L Walker 
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a Jefferson County man who accessed child pornography for years to seven years in prison and ordered him to pay $3,000 to a victim.
At least as far back as 2015, Jonathan R. Brown, 34, of Jefferson County near Festus, was using the dark web to download and view child pornography.
In October of 2018 and January of 2019, Brown had child pornography on computers that were accessible via peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Investigators later seized electronics that contained child pornography.
Brown pleaded guilty in March to one count of receipt of child pornography.
The case stemmed from an FBI investigation into a dark website focused on the production, advertisement and distribution of egregious child exploitation material. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the St. Charles County Police Department also investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
