An Eagle Point woman was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison this week for taking sexually explicit photos of a young child and sending them to multiple individuals she met online.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office reports 31-year-old Kayla Dee Lester was sentenced to 156 months in federal prison followed by 20 years of supervised release.
This case was investigated by the Sheriff's Office, Southern Oregon High Tech Crimes Task Force and US Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office of the District of Oregon.
The initial investigation began in January 2020 when Jackson County detectives received a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of child pornography being uploaded from an address on East Archwood Drive in Eagle Point.
According to court documents, Lester took sexually explicit photos of an 8-year-old child and distributed them to several people online. When interviewed by police, Lester admitted using Whisper and other social media applications to meet people and solicit child pornography. She further admitted to sending the images she took of the child to others in hopes they would send her child pornography in return.
In September 2020, a federal grand jury in Medford returned a three-count indictment charging Lester with Using a Minor to Produce Visual Depictions of Sexually Explicit Conduct plus Distributing and Possessing Child Pornography. She pleaded guilty to Distributing Child Pornography in May of this year.
While awaiting sentencing, Lester was arrested for possessing an internet-connected cell phone in violation of her release conditions. Her cell phone was found to contain nude images of herself and other adults she was chatting with. A forensic search conducted on her phone revealed 44 videos of child pornography.
