Massachusetts Man Arrested At Charlotte Airport Sentenced To 15 Years For Transportation Of Child Sexual Abuse Material

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Massachusetts man arrested at Charlotte Douglas International Airport was sentenced to 15 years in prison today for transporting child sexual abuse material (CSAM), announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Mark M. Zito, Special Agent in Charge of HSI in North Carolina and South Carolina, joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making today's announcement.

Jossue Ovidio Tejada, 31, of Nantucket, was ordered to serve 15 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Tejada was also ordered to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison and to pay $79,300 in restitution.

"If you possess child sexual abuse material, you will be caught," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. "My office is dedicated to protecting children, and we seek long sentences for those who harm and exploit them."

According to court records, on March 1, 2024, Tejada flew into Charlotte on an international flight from the Dominican Republic. During an inspection at Passport Control, a Customs and Border Patrol Officer conducted a border search of Tejada's phone. Upon opening one of the messaging apps on the phone, the officer discovered message threads related to CSAM. Court records show that Tejada's phone was submitted for a forensic examination. The analysis of the phone revealed it contained 4,162 files of CSAM, 7,500 identified as child erotica, 52 files depicting S&M of minors, 418 files depicting sexual abuse of infants or toddlers, 24 files depicting bestiality with minors, and 1,550 files depicting CSAM of children under the age of 12. In addition, court records indicate that Tejada actively chatted with others to solicit, pay for, and distribute CSAM.

In sentencing Tejada, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell said, "This is about as serious an offense as it gets. . . . What is depicted in those videos actually happened."

Tejada remains in custody pending placement at a federal facility by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked HSI for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Cervantes of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte handled the prosecution.

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 the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.