Festus area man sentenced to 7 years in prison

U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday (8/31) sentenced a Jefferson County man who accessed child pornography for years to seven years in prison and ordered him to pay $3,000 to a victim.

At least as far back as 2015, 34-year-old Jonathan R. Brown, of Jefferson County near Festus, was using the dark web to download and view child pornography. In October of 2018 and January of 2019, Brown had child pornography on computers that were accessible via peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Investigators later seized electronics that contained child pornography. Brown pleaded guilty in March to one count of receipt of child pornography.