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Local man sentenced to prison for sharing child pornography on social media

Sexual abuse photos were uploaded to Tumblr
Posted at 2:35 PM, Jan 29, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-29 17:56:27-05

A North Las Vegas man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison for distributing images of child pornography to his Tumblr account, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich of the District of Nevada.

Johne Lewis Owens II, 43, previously pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey ordered a lifetime term of supervised release.

Between November 2015 and May 2016, Owens admitted that he uploaded numerous images of child pornography to his Tumblr account. On May 14, 2017, Owens’ wife saw sexually explicit and sexual abuse photos of him and a child on his Tumblr account. His wife alerted law enforcement and filed a report. A search warrant on Owens’ Tumblr account revealed his account is “open” and may be viewed by the public. He confessed to taking photos and videos of sex acts with the child, then uploading them onto his Tumblr account thereby distributing the images over the internet.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the North Las Vegas Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elham Roohani prosecuted the case.

If you have information regarding the sexual exploitation of children, contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children www.cybertipline.org.