Registered sex offender from North Texas sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for producing child pornography, related offenses

DALLAS — A registered sex offender from North Texas was sentenced Monday to 45 years in federal prison following his January 2017 guilty plea to producing child pornography and other related offenses.

This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas. This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Mesquite (Texas) Police Department, and the Burrillville (Rhode Island) Police Department.

Jason Lee Randall, 33, of Mesquite, Texas, pleaded guilty to producing, transporting and possessing prepubescent child pornography; he also pleaded guilty to penalties for registered sex offenders. Randall has been in custody since his September 2016 arrest.

According to the indictment, factual resume, and information from his sentencing hearing, Randall — a registered sex offender previously convicted of several charges for possessing child pornography — used the online alias “Emily Randall” to communicate with other children via the internet. Randall, using various online accounts, pretended to be a 12-year-old girl and convinced other girls he met online to engage in sexually explicit conduct and create child pornography of themselves. Randall then sent this child pornography to other children to convince them to engage in sexually explicit conduct and create more child pornography. On at least one occasion, Randall video-chatted with a child and engaged in a sex act visible to the child. Randall victimized at least 20 girls around the world, the majority of who were between the ages of 9 and 13 years old. Randall also possessed thousands of images and videos of prepubescent child pornography, including videos involving infants being sexually abused.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie L. Hoxie, Northern District of Texas, was in charge of this prosecution.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 16,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2016, more than 2,600 child predators were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 800 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page. HSI is a founding member of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.