Missouri man gets 35 years for coercing a child for illegal sexual activity following HSI Kansas City investigation

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — An El Dorado Springs man with a history of child sex crimes was sentenced in federal court Aug. 3 for making plans to coerce the fictional child of an undercover federal agent to engage in illegal sexual activity following a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City investigation.

U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips sentenced Jarrett Lee Vann, 49, to 35 years in federal prison without parole and a lifetime of supervised release following his incarceration.

On Oct. 11, 2022, Vann pleaded guilty to one count of coercing and enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and one count that charges additional penalties for registered sex offenders. At the time of the offense, Vann was required to register as a sex offender due to a federal conviction for receiving or distributing child sexual abuse material in Idaho.

Vann admitted that he engaged in an online conversation with an undercover federal agent he met in a chat room on the dark web on Nov. 1, 2021. The conversation continued through a mobile instant messaging application through February 2022. Vann expressed interest in engaging in sexual acts with the undercover agent’s purported four-year-old daughter and engaged in graphic discussions about what he wanted to do to her. Vann discussed having a long-term sexual relationship with the child, which included graphic details about specific sex acts, dressing her up like a bride, keeping souvenirs of his rape of the purported child, and having the undercover agent show the child pornography so she would be prepared for the sexual encounters.

During those conversations, Vann claimed he had many relationships with “young girls” between the ages of three and 15 years old. He clarified his favorite ages were four to five years old. He admitted that he was emailing with an individual he believed to be a minor, had sent nude images to individuals he believed to be minors, and was chatting with others about exploiting children.

They made plans for the undercover agent to travel to Missouri with her purported daughter so Vann could have sexual contact with the child. Vann met the undercover agent at a restaurant in El Dorado Springs. When they left the restaurant, officials arrested Vann; they seized and searched his electronic devices, which contained files of child sexual abuse material.

In addition to his federal conviction in Idaho, which followed his attempt to meet a fictional nine-year-old victim for sex, Vann was caught in an undercover Air Force police operation trying to meet another child for sex. This conduct was also underlying conduct for his Idaho conviction, for which he was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison.

While Vann was on supervised release following incarceration, his probation officer found child sexual abuse material on his electronic devices. Vann received an additional prison term when his supervised release was revoked. In 2008, he was convicted of possessing sexually exploitative material and sentenced to 10 years in an Idaho prison.

This case was investigated by HSI and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan.

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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’ largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.

Learn more about our mission to eradicate child predators in the community on Twitter @HSIKansasCity.