LONDON, KY - Laurel County Sheriff John Root is reporting that: A London man, Dana E. Jones, age 60, of Old Whitley Road was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison on Monday, August 28, 2023 by U. S. District Judge Robert Wier, following his convictions for production of child pornography.
According to is guilty plea agreement, in December 2020, Jones enticed two minors to participate in a sexually explicit video, which Jones captured on one of the victim's cell phones. Jones then took the sexually explicit images and uploaded them to the social media application Snapchat. Prior to this incident, Jones engaged in a pattern of grooming behavior, which regularly involved supplying the victims – who were just 12 and 14 years old at the time – with alcohol and drugs, including Xanax, Percocet, and Cocaine.
The investigation also revealed that Jones had engaged in sexual contact with one of the victims over the course of their association.
Under federal law, Jones must serve 85% of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. probation office for life.
Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; J. Todd Scott, Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Louisville Field Division; Col. Phillip Burnett, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police (KSP); and Sheriff Jon Root, Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, jointly announced the sentence.
Initially, Laurel Sheriff's investigators were dispatched to a residence off Old Whitley Road near London to conduct a welfare check regarding a report that a female juvenile was allegedly with an adult male there. When deputies arrived at the scene, they located a 14-year-old Laurel County female juvenile in the residence along with Dana Jones. An investigation was conducted and it was learned that allegedly the male subject had raped and sexually assaulted the 14-year-old female. Sheriff's investigators also located juvenile sexual material on the male subject’s cell phone.
The followup investigation was conducted by DEA, KSP, and the Laurel County Sheriff's Office. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Dotson.
This case was prosecuted 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. Led by U.S. attorney's offices and the criminal division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Photos of LSO logo and the accused, Dana E. Jones provided by the Laurel County Sheriff's Office.
Photo of gavel and scales is a ClayCoNews stock image.
