Brevard Man Sentenced To 9 Years For Possession Of Child Pornography

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. has sentenced James John Edwards (37, Brevard County) to 9 years in federal prison for possession of child pornography. The court also ordered Edwards to pay $50,000 in restitution to the victims of the offense, and to forfeit the electronic devices that he had used to commit the offense. A federal jury found Edwards guilty on August 1, 2019.

According to evidence presented at trial, on February 7, 2019, during the execution of a search warrant, agents found Edwards in possession of more than 1,000 videos and over 300 images depicting the sexual exploitation and abuse of young children. Those videos and images captured the rape and sexual torture of children under the age of 12. The evidence also showed that Edwards had an extensive computer background, and in this case, used a file-sharing program to obtain the illicit images via a computer and hard drive in his bedroom. The computer was connected to a television that was mounted on the wall above Edwards’s dresser. Edwards used the hard drive to store videos and images of child pornography. His collection dated back to 2015.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Palm Bay Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ilianys Rivera Miranda and Karen L. Gable.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 www.justice.gov/psc.