Lincoln County Man Sentenced for Child Pornography Charge

LONDON, Ky. - An Irvine, Ky., man, Zackary Keith Jones, 35, was sentenced on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom to 194 months in prison, for transporting a minor over state lines with the intent that the minor engage in sexual activity.

According to his plea agreement, Jones transported a minor victim over state lines, from North Carolina to Lincoln County, Ky., with the intent to engage in sexual activity. Jones used Snapchat to communicate with the vic­­­tim and lied to the victim about his age to induce the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct. Jones also admitted that he engaged in sexual acts and sexual contact with the minor victim during and after the interstate transportation of the victim. The victim, who was reported missing from North Carolina on Decemb­­­­er 8, 2023, was found by law enforcement on December 25, 2023 in a hidden compartment in the floor of a bedroom at Jones' residence.

Under federal law, Jones must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 20 years.

Paul McCaffrey, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Olivia Olson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office; Russell Coleman, Kentucky Attorney General; and Sheriff Shawn Hines, Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by FBI, the Kentucky Attorney General's Office, Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. David Dalton, Commonwealth Attorney for the 28th Judicial Circuit, also provided significant assistance to the investigation and prosecution of the case. The U.S. Attorney's Office was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Melton.

The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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