FBI looking for online victims of Modesto man indicted on child pornography charges
A 27-year-old Modesto man, Jacob Jacobsen, has been indicted on charges of sexually exploiting minors over the internet, and investigators are asking victims to come forward, the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office said in a news release Tuesday.
“Jacobsen allegedly enticed underage females to produce and transmit sexually explicit videos and photos using social media platforms,” the release said. When communicating with victims, he often purported to be age 16 or 17, the FBI said.
On Nov. 17, Jacobsen was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of receiving child sex abuse material, more commonly known as child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California.
Besides his legal name, authorities believe Jacobsen used the aliases Jake, James and Trey, according to the press release. Investigators found the following social media accounts to be associated with Jacobsen:
- Snapchat usernames @trippinj and @treydawgg2000
- Instagram username @loudpack.sd
According to the release, Jacobsen also may have contacted his victims in person.
Authorities are asking victims 18 and older to upload their statements to https://forms.fbi.gov/jacobjacobsen. In the cases of minors, investigators ask that parents or guardians fill out the online form. All victim identities will be kept confidential.
The case was brought forward as part of a nationwide initiative called Project Safe Childhood, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. But the FBI says victims “may be located anywhere in the world.”
Initially, the mother of a 13-year-old girl in Memphis, Tennessee, told police Jacobsen had been requesting sexually explicit content from her daughter through Snapchat, according to the press release. Investigators in Memphis executed numerous search warrants and discovered that Jacobsen had been in contact with as many as 175 victims on Snapchat.
Jacobsen’s case is the product of an investigation by the Memphis Police Department and the Memphis and Ripon FBI offices, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
If convicted, Jacobsen could face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 6:14 PM.
