Portland Man Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Distributing Child Pornography via Bittorrent Network

Anyone with information about the physical or online exploitation of children should call 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or submit an online tip form.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - 28-year old Jordan Thomas Prentice, of Portland, was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison for distributing child pornography using a BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Upon completion of his prison sentence, Prentice will be on supervised release for five years.

According to court documents, on July 3, 2015, an undercover agent with the Vancouver, Washington Police Department downloaded multiple files depicting infants, toddlers and other prepubescent children being sexually abused from a BitTorrent file-sharing network.

Investigators traced the IP address associated with the files to Prentice’s residence in Portland. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) identified numerous files downloaded from Prentice’s IP address that depicted children identified in prior investigations and some of whom resided outside of Oregon.

On January 27, 2016, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents executed a federal search warrant at Prentice’s Portland home. Prentice admitted to having viewed child pornography since he was 15 years old and having downloaded the illicit files for years using uTorrent software.

Agents seized multiple devices from Prentice’s home and later located more than 600 images and 126 video files depicting child sexual abuse.

Prentice previously pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography on August 8, 2018. As part of his plea agreement, Prentice agreed to pay restitution to his victims and forfeit personal property used to facilitate his crimes.

This case was investigated by HSI and the Vancouver Police Department. It was prosecuted by Jane Shoemaker, Natalie Wight and Amy Potter, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

HSI encourages anyone with information about the physical or online exploitation of children to call its toll-free tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or submit an online tip form. Both reporting methods are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation may also be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office - District of Oregon