Registered Sex Offender from West Gardiner Sentenced to 50 Years for Child Sexual Abuse Material Offenses

BANGOR, Maine: A West Gardiner man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Bangor for transporting, receiving, distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material, as well as failing to register as a sex offender.

Chief U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker sentenced Jon A. Hall (aka L.J. (Little Jon) Hall), 30, to a total of 600 months in prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $8,000 in restitution. Hall pleaded guilty on April 26, 2024.

According to court records, on August 29, 2022, Maine State Police investigators executed a search warrant in West Gardiner on Hall's person. In the search, they seized an iPhone belonging to Hall, and child sexual abuse material was recovered from that phone. Some of the images and video files depicted Hall sexually abusing a young child while earlier living in another state. The phone also included messages with a person in Maine while Hall was out of state. In many of those messages, Hall inquired about obtaining nude images of underage children and sent the user child sexual abuse material. There was also evidence of Hall receiving payments for the images via Cash App. The images were of victims under the age of 12 and included images Hall had solicited and received from boys he knew or met online.

In April 2015, Hall pleaded guilty to and was convicted of two counts of possessing sexually explicit material depicting a child under 12 and was notified of the requirement as a Tier III lifetime registrant of the sex offender registry to maintain current registration information.

"Mr. Hall has a lengthy and troubling history that makes it clear that children are in danger as long as he is free," said U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee. "Any sentence, no matter how lengthy, can only go so far in providing justice for such heinous acts inflicted upon children, but I hope it provides comfort to all he victimized. My office will continue to prioritize child exploitation prosecutions to protect Maine children from predators like Mr. Hall."

"Hall was a repeat offender who not only possessed and traded in child sexual abuse material, but directly abused and exploited children. His previous conviction shows he is clearly a danger to the community and today's significant sentence will keep him away from children for a very long time," said Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol for Homeland Security Investigations in New England. "With the conclusion of this case, we hope those he victimized can find some amount of closure and peace as they move forward."

Homeland Security Investigations and the Maine State Police investigated the case.

To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt or production of child pornography: Child sexual abuse material - "child pornography" - captures the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These images document victims' exploitation and abuse, and they suffer revictimization every time the images are viewed. File a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at https://report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678. If you are in Maine and you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted or abused, you can get help by calling the free, private 24-hour statewide sexual assault helpline at 1-800-871-7741.

Project Safe Childhood: 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 Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/psc.

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