Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced Jordan Frederic Schemmel (38, Ormond Beach) to nine years and two months in federal prison for distributing depictions of child sexual abuse over the internet. Schemmel had pleaded guilty on May 22, 2019. Schemmel was also sentenced to a 10-year term of supervised release and ordered to register as a sex offender upon his release.
According to court documents, on September 5, 2018, Schemmel, using the username “Profsunrise15,” responded to a message on an internet bulletin board frequented by individuals with a sexual interest in children and incest. The message had been posted by an undercover FBI agent. Schemmel began an online conversation with the agent using a popular social messaging application. After some conversation about his sexual interest in children between the ages of 9 and 13, Schemmel sent a video to the agent that depicted a young child being sexually assaulted by an adult male, and later sent a photo depicting similar criminal conduct with a child. During this time, Schemmel was a teacher at Terry Parker High School in Jacksonville.
On October 19, 2018, FBI agents and other law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Schemmel’s residence in Jacksonville. During an interview, Schemmel stated that he was interested in incest and bestiality, that he had sent the child-pornographic video using the app, and that he had tried unsuccessfully to stop viewing child pornography after receiving sexual gratification from it. Forensic examination of Schemmel’s smartphone and a USB thumb drive seized from his residence revealed that he had collected 102 images and 28 videos depicting child pornography, several of which depicted the sadistic sexual abuse of young children.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice/psc.
