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Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Files Depicting the Sexual Victimization of Children and Extorting an 11-Year-Old Louisiana Female

New Orleans, Louisiana – On July 8, 2022, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Javan Bailey, age 20, a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, pleaded guilty as charged in a Federal Court in Louisiana, on June 7, 2022 before United States District Judge Carl J. Barbier after previously being charged in a two-count indictment with producing images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of an eleven-year-old female, Victim 1, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 2251(a), and transmitting interstate threats for the purpose of extorting a thing of value, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(d).

According to court documents, Bailey met Victim 1, a New Orleans, Louisiana resident born in about October 2009, in about February 2021 on a social media service that specialized in the hosting and presentation of short-form videos hosted by its users. Bailey pretended to be a minor female and discussed twerking videos with Victim 1. Bailey sent Victim 1 a video of a juvenile female twerking and engaging in sexually explicit behavior after moving the conversation to a text-based platform. Bailey then told Victim 1 that if she didn’t send him a video of herself engaging in sexually explicit behavior, Bailey would post the video he sent Victim 1 on social media platforms and claim it was of Victim 1. Victim 1 agreed.

Bailey continued to direct Victim 1 to record and send him increasingly explicit content for the next three months, threatening to release the prior content if Victim 1 refused.

On or around May 27, 2021, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Bailey’s residence in Cleveland, Ohio, seizing Bailey’s cellular phone. A search of digital media revealed that, between approximately November 2019 and May 2021, Bailey sought and obtained depictions of dozens of minors engaging in sexually explicit behavior using the same extortionate scheme he used to obtain sexually explicit material from Victim 1. In addition, Bailey sold the sexually explicit depictions of minors he received by charging around $30 in exchange for sharing a link to the content. Bailey sold the link numerous times.

Attempts to identify and notify victims are still underway. If you believe you have been a victim of these criminal activities, or if you know someone who has, please call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) and reference this case.

Bailey faces a mandatory minimum of fifteen years in prison and a maximum of thirty-two years in prison. Bailey faces a lifetime of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, a $200 mandatory special assessment fee, and the requirement to register as a sex offender. The sentencing hearing before Judge Barbier has been set for October 13, 2022.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood, led by US Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. To learn more about Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s work in investigating this case. The prosecution is led by Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg.

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