MIAMI — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Florida, Southern), published as received.

MIAMI – An Oklahoma inmate who used a contraband cellphone to sexually exploit and coerce a 12-year-old South Florida child into producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) was sentenced to life in federal prison. 

U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith imposed the sentence on Jeffrey Allen Holden, 45, after he pleaded guilty to five counts of production of visual depictions involving sexual exploitation of minors and three counts of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.

“Even a lengthy prison sentence for rape did not stop Jeffrey Allen Holden from seeking out and sexually exploiting another vulnerable victim,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones. “From his prison cell, he used a contraband phone and a false name to manipulate a 12-year-old child into producing CSAM. His life sentence is a just consequence for conduct that was calculated, predatory, and profoundly cruel.”

According to court documents, in October 2024, the mother of a 12-year-old child discovered sexually explicit communications between the child and an individual using the name “Jeremy” on a messaging platform. The communications included text messages, voice recordings, photographs, and videos. Although the child initially told Holden she was 13, she later disclosed that she was 12. 

After the mother reported the communications to law enforcement, investigators reviewed the child’s cellphone and discovered CSAM exchanged through direct messages between Holden and the victim. Investigators also found that Holden had sent the child sexually explicit photographs and videos of himself and had persuaded the victim to create sexually explicit content.

Investigators identified Holden through a photograph he sent the victim. At the time, Holden was incarcerated at the Howard McLeod Correctional Facility in Oklahoma, where he was serving a 25-year sentence for rape. A subsequent search of Holden’s prison cell uncovered a contraband cellphone. 

U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of the FBI, Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

FBI Miami investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Camille Smith and Vanessa Bonhomme prosecuted the case.

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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 25-cr-60108.

 

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