Michigan Man Living in the Philippines Sentenced to 78 Months in Prison for Child Exploitation Offense

 Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JASON KELLER, 35, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to 78 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for coercing a minor girl to send him sexually explicit photos of herself through the internet.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in September 2018, Keller, while living in the Philippines, used the moniker “Eddie Buttered Toast” to contact a 14-year-old female in Connecticut and claim that he was a 17-year-old boy from Colorado.  Keller then sent the minor victim numerous grooming emails that eventually coaxed the minor victim into sending photos of herself engaged in sexually explicit conduct to Keller.  Some of the emails Keller sent to the minor victim included sexually explicit images of himself.

On December 19, 2018, a grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment charging Keller.  Keller was located and arrested in the Philippines in June 2019.  He was removed from the Philippines and returned to the U.S. on December 12, 2019.  He has been detained since his arrest.

On December 2, 2020, Keller pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography.

Keller formerly resided in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. 

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Marshals Service, International Investigations Branch, with the assistance of the Philippine Bureau of Immigration, Fugitive Search Unit.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Clark.

Acting U.S. Attorney Boyle thanked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for its assistance in this matter.