Jacksonville, Florida – Aaron Kirk Woolman (58, Hagerman,
ID) has been arrested and charged with soliciting child sex abuse images over
the internet and via text message. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15
years, and up to 30 years, in federal prison. Woolman made his initial
appearance in Boise, Idaho on December 13, 2019, and currently remains in
custody pending further proceedings in Jacksonville.
According to court documents, on August 7, 2019, an
undercover FBI agent in Jacksonville, who was posing as a parent of a
9-year-old “child,” made online contact with Woolman, who was using the user
name “AWOOL61,” in an online chat application. During an online chat session,
Woolman repeatedly asked for photos of the purported “child.” Between August 14
and August 21, 2019, Woolman and the undercover agent engaged in online
conversation during which Woolman solicited the undercover agent to send
pornographic images of the “child.”
Additionally, Woolman engaged in text message conversations
with a second undercover FBI agent who was posing as the 9-year-old child.
During these conversations, Woolman solicited the “child” to engage in sexually
explicit conduct, produce pornographic images of this conduct, and send these
images to him. Woolman tried to convince the “child” to comply with his requests
by sending the “child” explicit images of himself along with a video of a
female engaged in sexual acts.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in Jacksonville and Boise, Idaho, as well as the Gooding County
(ID) Sheriff’s Office and the Twin Falls (ID) Police Department. It is being
prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
This is another case 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 United States 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
www.justice.gov/psc.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has
committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant
is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
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