Pennsylvania man pleads guilty to producing child pornography

SCRANTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to a federal charge of production of child pornography. The guilty plea is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI.

Jonathan Binns, 37, of Shenandoah, Pa., admitted that he took sexually explicit photographs and videos of two minor children in 2010, uploaded the child pornography to a computer and maintained the images on a thumb drive. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2011.

If convicted, Binns faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been scheduled. Binns remains in custody pending sentencing.

The Pennsylvania State Police, detectives from the Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office and the Schuylkill County District Attorney's office assisted ICE HSI and the FBI with this case.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or NCMEC's CyberTipLine.