A Mississippi man was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for production of child pornography involving minors he met through volunteering with various Jackson Public School bands.

According to court documents, Jerrell Lea’Shun Jackson, 34, used his association with the Jackson State University Sonic Boom to entice unsuspecting minors to his apartment and the bus barn for sexually explicit conduct and filming.  Jackson preyed on the most vulnerable children by fixing their band instruments, giving them a ride home after band practices and buying them food.

Jackson pleaded guilty on June 14, 2021, to production of child pornography.

The case was investigated by the Jackson Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and the Jackson Public School Campus Enforcement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenda R. Haynes prosecuted the case.

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 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.usdoj.gov/psc.