Nacogdoches Man Charged with Child Pornography, Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child

According to a press release from the Nacogdoches County Sheriff's Office (NCSO), a Nacogdoches man is behind bars after an ongoing investigation into a sexual assault of a child.

Sheriff Investigators received a complainant that a witness had possibly observed a video of a child younger than 10 years of age on an iPad that was performing sexual acts by the suspect. The video was observed by the witness in Tarrant County where the suspect is currently working. The witness believed that the crime occurred in Nacogdoches County and would later contact the Sheriff Office to advise them.

NCSO was made aware of the complainant on Friday, August 5th and was able to identify a possible victim in the alleged assault. The child was taken to the Harold’s House for a CAC interview, but there was no outcry made by the child during this time.

NCSO investigators continued to investigate and were able to fully identify the suspect in the case, who was in Arlington, Texas at the time of the investigation. On Wednesday, August 10th, sheriff investigators along with the Texas Rangers went to Arlington and conducted an interview with the suspect who gave a full confession to authorities.  Investigators also seized an iPad that belonged to the suspect who had admitted that he had deleted videos of sexual assault crimes from the iPad that he had originally made.

A search warrant was obtained for the iPad on Thursday August 11th by NCSO investigators who took the iPad to the Lufkin Police Department to have a forensic analysis conducted. On Friday, August 12th the forensic analysis recovered four videos from the iPad device that belonged to the suspect.

Sheriff Investigators were able to determine that videos containing child pornography were on the device. The evidence also substantiates the confession that the suspect had made along with other forensic evidence obtained from the victim in the case.

Seven arrest warrants were issued for the suspect, John Paul Jones 38 years of age on August 12th:

1. Four Counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child 1^st  degree felony
2. Indecency with a Child 3^rd degree felony
3. Two Counts of Possession of  child Pornography 2^nd degree felony

John Paul Jones surrendered himself to Tarrant Co. jail on the charges the same day. He is currently still being held in the Tarrant County Jail with no bond listed, and will be transported back to the Nacogdoches County Jail by Sheriff Deputies.

Sheriff Jason Bridges stated that since the charges include child pornography, that the Sheriff Office will present the case file to the FBI to request that the charges be adopted federally. The case is ongoing at this time.