Henry County man pleads guilty to possession, receipt of child pornography

HENRY COUNTY, Tenn. — A West Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to possession and receipt of child pornography, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee D. Michael Dunavant announced Friday.

Law enforcement officers began investigating Russell Jann, 44, of Cottage Grove in February after receiving a lead out of Belvidere, Illinois, according to a release.

Based on that lead and their investigation, agents learned that Jann had been engaging in sexually explicit online chats and conversations via text messages with at least four minor victims ranging in age from 15 to 17 years old, according to the release.

Jann exchanged messages with the victims containing pictures of his genitalia and videos of himself masturbating and received similar sexually explicit images and/or videos of at least three of the four minor victims, the release states.

Agents also recovered a laptop computer and external hard drive from Jann’s home that contained thousands of images and videos of child pornography depicting children as young as infants, according to the release.

Jann faces a mandatory minimum five years in prison.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, and was investigated by the FBI, Belvidere (Illinois) Police Department and the Henry County Sheriff’s Office.