REPEAT SEX OFFENDER PLEADS GUILTY IN MISSISSIPPI TO POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

                       
WASHINGTON – A previously convicted child sex offender has pleaded guilty in Mississippi to possessing child pornography, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton for the Southern District of Mississippi announced today.

Jerry Wayne Ramey, 39, of Meridian, Miss., was convicted last year in the Northern District of Alabama for traveling to have sex with a minor.  In January 2006, Ramey traveled from Meridian to Birmingham, Ala., to engage in sexual intercourse with an 11-year-old girl whom he believed was a prostitute.  In fact, Ramey had been communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer when he responded to an advertisement on the “Craigslist” website and sought the illegal sexual liaison.  On Oct. 3, 2006, Ramey was sentenced to 12 years and 4 months in prison.

       
Ramey’s guilty plea today stems from a lead obtained by law enforcement after his arrest in Alabama on the prior offense.  While investigating the lead, law enforcement discovered that Ramey possessed sexually explicit images of minors at his Meridian home.  Ramey was indicted on May 7, 2007, in Jackson, Miss., for possessing multiple images of child pornography that he received through the Internet.

Ramey faces between 10 to 20 years in prison due to his prior conviction, and up to a $250,000 fine.  The government is recommending that Ramey receive 20 years in prison, to run concurrently with the Alabama sentence he is currently serving.  Sentencing has been set for Dec. 14, 2007, at 9 a.m.

This case was investigated by the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Meridian Resident Agency.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenda Haynes of the Southern District of Mississippi and Trial Attorney Jill Trumbull-Harris of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.