MIAMI – On March 14, a North Lauderdale man, who is a registered sex offender, and who was convicted of transportation of over 620 electronic images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, who sits in Miami.
Jason Hemans, 40, arrived at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from Jamaica on August 18, 2023. Due to Hemans being a registered sex offender, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers conducted an examination of Hemans’ smartphone. During the examination, numerous images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) were discovered on Hemans’ smartphone. Special Agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Fort Lauderdale, responded and conducted further review of Hemans’ smartphone and discovered several hundred images of CSAM on the device and arrested Hemans, who also admitted to receiving and viewing the images. On December 19, 2023, Hemans pled guilty to one count of violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(1) (transportation of child sexual abuse material).
Just out of curiosity, I’d really like to know what the brave men and women of Operation Angle Watch [/sarc] are doing to find and prosecute the creators of the images found on this guy’s phone.
While this guy clearly did wrong, this is all still just profiling and he’s in the minority, not the rule. I bet if they inspected everyone’s digital devices upon reentry, they wouldn’t be able to handle the amount of cases that fall into their hands. We’re basically the only class of citizens that’s always presumed guilty no matter how far from supposedly having paid our debt to society.
Wrote the following to the prosecuting office’s citizen complaints address:
To Whom it May Concern:
Every time I run across an article or press release of your office (or sister organizations) patting its own back for the sentences handed down on individuals convicted for child pornography possession, I can’t help but wonder what your (or any other) office is doing to find and prosecute the creators of such material. Try as I might, I can’t find one single article or press release about that
I’m left with the impression that there is absolutely no effort whatsoever to prevent the production of CSAM, let alone prosecute those that create it. Please correct me if I’m wrong, ideally with something with more substance than political rhetoric and unsupported assertions.
Thanks in advance.
In addition to the reporters that print this stuff, let’s start writing prosecutors as well.
What amazes me the most here is that if you are traveling across country borders as a PFR or a former PFR why you would ever travel with such kind of materials. Definitely not smart.
Sad… as always. Sad what happened to the children in the images. Sad this man could not get past the desire for these. Saddest of all, nothing is actually being done about anything.
Putting this man in prison doesn’t make the images go away. Doesn’t stop anyone from viewing them. Doesn’t stop anyone from making more. Doesn’t do anything to help anything….but we do get to some sweet, sweet revenge, that we get to feel all kinds of morally superior about!
So yeah, small prices to pay for all that! The kids in the pictures he had…the kids in the pictures being made today….and tomorrow…and the day after…and, well just all of them. All just acceptable losses in pursuit of the benefits this process provides.
Disposable Society in Action! Thank God we learned absolutely nothing from the War on Drugs! If we did, we might not feel good about doing the exact same thing here. Remember, no matter how massive the failures, nor how frequently they occur…no matter how many kids, or there families…ALWAYS acceptable losses in pursuit of our delusion, unobtainable, self-righteous goals! Just like the War on Drugs!
Yes, yes yes true…some of these kids will grow up feeling completely betrayed by our society that did absolutely nothing to prevent what happened to them. Sure some of them will respond to those feelings in dramatic ways. Yes that may involve a planned 1 way trip to the Mall with their AR-15. Come on…how often will THAT happen? I’m sure that no matter what the final tally on that will be, it will be well within the Acceptable Losses range. Just hope you aren’t at the mall when it happens…that way it can not matter…to you. See how easy solving that problem is?
Just don’t care what happens to other people. Just consider them as small prices to pay in pursuit of your goals through your methods, for your benefit!
The American way!
Yeah, nobody matters but me!
Of course they searched his phone without probable cause. This guy should never had pled guilty.
Such a brilliant move for a registered person to not only have that crap on his phone, but to carry it in public and go through customs with it.
Echo others who say this was a dumb move by the gent in question and the exception to the rule. Also, leads me to openly question:
Jamaica is open to PFRs?
Why is Devil’s Watch taking credit for this (read the attached PR release)? Because they knew his travel agenda based upon forced notification protocol? They knew it already w/o it. CBP searched his electronics as the courts have already said was acceptable to find what they found. This will only embolden and further justify their existence for what reason related to this instance?
This gent is lucky it was not 180 counts against him, but 1 count he pleaded to for the 180 mos (15 years). There was behind the scenes negotiations of course.
Interesting, Last time I flew back to California from Denver, I noticed I had my own row, A young black Woman in Army fatigue, Sat down next to me BUT before the plane took off the stewardess came up and offered her a better seat up front, out of respect for her serving our country. Another person also was relocated to another seat.
I’ve been on the registry for a long time, I’m not delusional or over paranoid, I know I’m being watched by the FBI, homeland Security and Angel watch and INTERPOL.
Long Beach PD makes you sign your initials by your phone number so I know they’re tracking my phone in real time, and I know at first contact with law-enforcement they’re going for my phone.
Another thing I’m very mindful of is California’s 290 SORNA requirements and the harsh burden Megan’s Law and that’s why I don’t trust airport’s I feel like the moment you purchase a ticket, they run you’re name through angel watch, looking for PFR and if they find a match the investigation begins.
I bet he’s now sitting in a jail cell wishing that he spent $30 to mail his phone to the US
It’s because of idiots like this, the rest of us are relentlessly subjected to “hyper-vigilance theater” and heightened scrutiny.. When something like this happens, it unfortunately gives credence to the “they’re all the same” narrative. Which further cements that lie in people’s minds.
Do people just not know about file encryption? Or is it some kind of self-sabotaging impulse?
A friend of mine from New York recently had his camera, computer and phone seized by CBP when he came back from Europe. He has never been arrested before but he is considered to be a political subversive. He was so paranoid afterwards that he decided not to show up a month or two later when they told him he could pick them up. He was afraid that they might have planted cp and would arrest him when he showed up. He lost thousands of dollars, as a result. I was under the impression that a federal court ruling still prevailed that [people] convicted [of a sexual offense] were the exception to the deep-search rule but, he tells me, another federal court has since ruled that anyone can have their electronics searched and seized.