Evergreen Reporter

An Oklahoma City man has been sentenced to federal prison for sexually abusing a child and recording the abuse on video. Jeremy Lee Peterson, 44, received the statutory maximum sentence of 360 months in federal prison and a life term of supervised release.

According to court documents, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) on February 18, 2022, regarding a video depicting child sexual abuse. The agents suspected the video was created in an apartment in Eugene, Oregon. They identified distinctive physical characteristics of the abuser in the video, including a scorpion tattoo on his chest.

On February 24, 2022, investigators searched the apartment and found furniture and bed sheets consistent with those seen in the abuse video. Photos of Peterson on social media and a booking photo from a previous arrest matched the likeness and physical attributes depicted in the video. Agents also discovered that the minor victim and their parent had recently moved to an address in Oklahoma matching Peterson’s most recent residence.

On February 28, 2022, agents executed a search warrant at Peterson’s Oklahoma address and found both the minor victim and parent living there. Peterson was arrested, and the child was rescued. It was later revealed that Peterson had assisted them in moving to his residence.

A federal grand jury in Portland returned a one-count indictment on March 15, 2022, charging Peterson with sexually exploiting a child and producing child pornography. Months after being charged, his minor victim contacted law enforcement to discuss further abuse incidents occurring both in Oregon and Oklahoma.

Peterson pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting a child on March 27, 2024.

The case was investigated by HSI in both Oregon and Oklahoma districts with assistance from the Eugene Police Department. William M. McLaren prosecuted it as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

Anyone with information about physical or online exploitation of children is encouraged to contact HSI at (866) 347-2423 or submit tips online at report.cybertip.org.

Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. Child sexual abuse material depicts actual crimes against children; sharing these images re-victimizes them each time their abuse is viewed online. More information can be found at www.missingkids.org.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse nationwide. For more details about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.