Two Philadelphia Men Arrested on Child Sexual Exploitation Charges

PHILADELPHIA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Eastern), published as received.

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Isaiah Banks, 30, and Bryan Jackson, 42, both of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were arrested and charged by criminal complaint with child pornography offenses. 

Banks has been charged with manufacture and attempted manufacture of child pornography and Jackson with receipt of child pornography.

The criminal complaints allege that the defendants conspired and worked together to deceive a minor (“Minor 1”) into believing that he was communicating with an older girl, in order to induce Minor 1 into producing child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”), which the defendants then shared with each other.

The complaints further allege that Banks and Jackson also deceived a second minor (“Minor 2”) into producing CSAM, under the guise that Banks would sell the videos to a girl for money, some of which would be shared with Minor 2.

If convicted, Banks faces a maximum possible sentence of 30 years’ incarceration with a 15-year mandatory minimum term, and a minimum of five years up to a lifetime of supervised release. If convicted, Jackson faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years’ incarceration with a five-year mandatory minimum term, and a minimum of five years up to a lifetime of supervised release.

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 United States 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 projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department Special Victims Unit and Homeland Security Investigations and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Branwen McNabb O’Donnell.

The charges and allegations contained in the criminal complaints are merely accusations. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.