Former Ketchikan youth minister indicted for child exploitation offenses

JUNEAU, Alaska - A federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment this week charging a former Ketchikan youth minister with sexually exploiting a child outside the U.S. and with possessing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). This case is one of three cases charged in Alaska through Operation Relentless Justice, a coordinated enforcement effort to identify, track and arrest child sex predators.

According to court documents, between March and November 2019, Dwight Chris John, 74, induced a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct while outside the U.S. in order to produce visual depictions of such conduct. The indictment alleges that John intended to and did transport those visual depictions back to the U.S.

The indictment further alleges that beginning on Nov. 1, 2019, and continuing through May 16, 2024, John knowingly possessed CSAM in Alaska. The CSAM allegedly involved a prepubescent minor and a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.

John is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children outside the U.S. and one count of possession of child pornography. The defendant is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on a later date before a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. If convicted of both counts, he faces up to 50 years in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman of the District of Alaska and Acting Special Agent in Charge Brandon Waddle of the FBI Anchorage Field Office made the announcement as part of Operation Relentless Justice. The nationwide crackdown resulted in over 205 child victims being located and the arrests of over 293 child sexual abuse offenders. The coordinated effort was executed over the course of two weeks by all 56 FBI field offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Department's Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorneys' offices around the country.

The FBI Anchorage Field Office, Juneau Resident Agency is investigating the case, with assistance from the Ketchikan Police Department, as part of the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. If anyone has information concerning John's alleged actions, please contact the FBI Anchorage Field Office at (907) 276-4441 or anonymously at tips.fbi.gov.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Reed and Trial Attorney Rachel L. Rothberg of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

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