PERRY, Fla. — A deacon at a church in Florida’s Big Bend area on Tuesday was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison after he was convicted of child pornography last year, prosecutors said.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida, Jonathan Ernest High, 31, of Steinhatchee, was sentenced after he was convicted during a bench trial on Oct. 4, 2022.
Law enforcement agencies in Taylor County received a cyber tip in August 2021 regarding child pornography uploaded to a cloud server connected to High’s account, according to WCJB-TV.
Investigators said they discovered multiple child pornography images and videos that depicted young boys engaged in sex acts or exposing themselves, the television station reported.
High was originally arrested on Dec. 3, 2021, according to Taylor County Sheriff’s Office online booking records.
Before his trial, High pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography, the news release stated.
Prosecutors alleged that High produced some of the videos himself, WCJB reported. On two separate occasions, High allegedly recorded two young boys using a restroom at the church in Perry where he served as a deacon, according to the television station.
Once High has served his prison sentence, he will have a lifetime of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender.
“Child predators seek to prey upon our children in any setting imaginable – in this instance from inside a house of worship,” U.S. Attorney Jason R. Coody said in a statement. “As such, we must remain vigilant.
“This sentence is yet another example of the unwavering commitment to the protection of our most vulnerable and should serve as a significant deterrent to those who would attempt to harm them.”
