Convicted Sex Offender Sentenced To More Than 19 Years For Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Videos

Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Joel Michael Phelan (48, Jacksonville) to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison, followed by a life term of supervised release, for distributing videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. The court also ordered Phelan to forfeit a cellphone and computers, which were used in the commission of the offense. Phelan had pleaded guilty on January 13, 2023.

According to court documents, the case began with an investigation by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO), which had executed a search warrant at Phelan’s residence in 2017, after receiving reports of the upload of files of child sexual abuse material from the residence. JSO seized multiple devices for further forensic examination. Phelan was arrested on the day the warrant was executed for unlawfully possessing a firearm and for two sex offender registration offenses. Phelan was sentenced to five years in prison for the state offenses.  

During a forensic review of the devices, law enforcement found Phelan had hundreds of files of child sexual abuse material and had communicated with others over chat messages about his desire to engage in sexual activity with children.

Phelan was previously convicted in Polk County in 2008 of using a computer to seduce a child after he had traveled to a location for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl. Phelan was sentenced to sex offender probation but violated his probation by possessing an illegal image of the sexual exploitation of two young girls.     

“This significant sentence is proof that not everyone learns their lesson the first time. Every time this previously convicted child predator feeds his perversion by receiving and distributing illicit images of children, he revictimizes those innocent victims,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge John Condon. “This sentence is proof that the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, HSI Jacksonville, and our partners at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, will stop at nothing to identify and prosecute those who exploit the vulnerability of our children.”     

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelly S. Karase. The forfeiture was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Mai Tran.

This case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.