Florida Church Deacon Guilty Of Producing Child Porn

From the Justice Department:

Jonathan High, 30, of Steinhatchee, Florida, has been convicted of two counts of use of a child to produce child pornography. The guilty verdict, returned yesterday, at the conclusion of a one-day bench trial, was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. Prior to the trial, High pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

In August 2021, law enforcement officers received a Cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that a user of a cloud storage account uploaded files constituting child pornography.

An investigation revealed the account belonged to High. Law enforcement officers obtained a search warrant for High’s cell phones and desktop computer, and after an examination of their contents, confirmed that High was in possession of multiple child pornography images and videos that depicted prepubescent boys engaged in sex acts or exposing their genitals in a lascivious manner.

Further investigation revealed that some of these images and videos were produced by High personally; High produced separate video recordings of two young boys using the bathroom in a Perry, Florida church where High served as a deacon.

High’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 9, 2023, at 1:30 p.m., at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee before United States District Judge Allen Winsor. High faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison and a combined maximum of 70 years in prison for all three counts.

Law & Crime reports:



Subscriber information about the account in question indicated that it was attached to a phone number somehow controlled by the defendant’s mother, court records indicate. The account also contained the name of a business owned by the High family; the defendant was an employee of that establishment.

The defendant’s mother died in November 2021, court papers indicate. The actual number and email address used to upload the images were High’s, authorities concluded. The court records suggest, but do not explicitly state, that the defendant’s mother may have been responsible for the bill for multiple devices.

A trial brief says “hundreds, if not thousands, of images of child pornography” were on the defendant’s accounts. Those images appear to have been materials he downloaded and stored. However, there was more. Court records say High was a deacon at the “Antioch Revival Church” in that municipality.