Timothy Douglas, a 65-year-old resident of Jamestown, New York, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for possession of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo also ordered Douglas to serve a lifetime term of supervised release and required him to register as a sex offender.
According to U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, Douglas’s conviction stems from his prior record involving aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, and abusive sexual conduct with a minor.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maeve E. Huggins explained that the case began in August 2023 when employees at a local grocery store found an unattended cell phone near the checkout area. Upon opening the phone in search of identifying information, they discovered sexually explicit images of young girls and notified Jamestown Police immediately. The police then contacted the FBI, which helped identify the children depicted in the images.
A forensic analysis revealed that the cellphone contained images of prepubescent minors or minors under 12 years old. Investigators determined that between July 2022 and August 2023, Douglas produced images showing three minor children engaged in sexually explicit acts—one child was five years old and two others were about ten years old. Some images were described as sadistic in nature.
Douglas has previous convictions from 2003 in New York State for possessing obscene sexual performance by a child under sixteen, first-degree sexual abuse, and second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child.
U.S. Attorney DiGiacomo stated: “Timothy Douglas, 65, of Jamestown, NY, who was convicted of possession of child pornography by a person having a prior conviction related to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, and abusive sexual conduct involving a minor, was sentenced to serve 240 months in prison and lifetime supervised release by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.”
The investigation involved both the Jamestown Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force.
