North Carolina Man Receives 27 Years for Producing and Transporting Child Sexual Abuse Material

A federal judge in the Western District of North Carolina sentenced Justin Dean Rose to 27 years in federal prison on May 14, 2026, for producing and transporting child sexual abuse material.

Rose, 36, of Conover, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to one count of production of child sexual abuse material and one count of transportation of child sexual abuse material. The charges stemmed from his creation of explicit images and videos involving a minor victim and his distribution of that material across state lines using online platforms.

The sentence includes 27 years of incarceration followed by lifetime supervised release. Under the terms, Rose must register as a sex offender and submit to strict conditions that limit his access to the internet, contact with minors, and proximity to schools or parks. The court also ordered forfeiture of the electronic devices used in the offenses.

The case originated from a joint investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Court records show Rose produced at least 12 explicit files involving the minor victim and transported them via the internet to recipients in other states.

Federal sentencing guidelines classified the offenses at the highest severity levels due to the victim's age and the volume of material.

This sentencing concludes one prosecution but activates standard post-conviction protocols that require the U.S. Probation Office to monitor compliance for decades. The Bureau of Prisons must now designate a facility for Rose's term, which begins immediately. Federal law mandates that the completed case be reported to the National Sex Offender Public Website upon his eventual release.

The Department of Justice has pursued similar production and transportation cases with increasing frequency since 2020 as digital forensics tools improved detection of material hosted on encrypted applications and peer-to-peer networks. This sentence falls within the range sought by prosecutors under 18 U.S.C. § 2251 for production and 18 U.S.C. § 2252 for transportation, statutes that carry mandatory minimums of 15 and 5 years respectively when a minor under 12 is involved.

Primary sources: U.S. Department of Justice