A 37-year-old Arkansas man was sentenced to 60 years imprisonment Thursday on child porn charges, court records show.
Jason Ellis of Springdale entered a guilty plea to two counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography May 4, federal court records show. He originally faced state charges, including four counts of rape, though they were dropped when he was transferred into federal custody.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Roberts recounted the claims made against Ellis in his sentencing recommendation to the court.
In February, the Springdale Police Department was contacted by the mother of a 13-year-old girl who said her daughter had been molested by Ellis for several years. The girl reportedly told investigators the abuse started when she was about 6, the document says.
Ellis’ abuse included rape and other sexual acts, Roberts wrote. His actions became so common, Roberts said, that the victim described it as normal and compared it to “playing doctor.” Ellis kept pictures and videos of the abuse on his electronic devices, prosecutors said.
In the name of one of the files, Ellis wrote that he had raped the girl at least 70 times, the document says.
“To this degree, Ellis is among the most prolific child [rapists] ever presented to this Court,” Roberts wrote.
He "stole the life the minor was intended to have for his own [deviant] sexual pleasure, and it should come at the cost of his freedom for the remainder of his life," Roberts wrote.
Prosecutors recommended a sentence of life without parole.
Ellis was sentenced Thursday to 60 years in prison and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine, court records show.
