Man sentenced to prison after police find large amount of child pornography
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Editor’s note: This article contains disturbing content of a sexual nature. Discretion is advised.
IDAHO FALLS – A 44-year-old man was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.
District Judge Dane Watkins Jr. sentenced Jason Arthur Bergener to a minimum of three years and a maximum of ten years in prison.
According to a news release from the Idaho Attorney General’s Office, Bergener was also ordered to pay a fine, court costs, and to the victims’ relief fund. He will have to remain registered as a sex offender pursuant to Idaho law.
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According to the Idaho Sex Offender Registry, in 2005, Bergener was convicted of felony statutory rape of a female under 18 in Kootenai County and was required to register as a sex offender at that time.
Bergener was convicted of two counts of sexual exploitation of a child by possession of sexually exploitative material.
He initially pleaded not guilty to five counts of felony possessing or accessing child sexually exploitative material but accepted a plea agreement, where he agreed to plead guilty to two of the charges in return for the prosecution dropping the remaining three charges.
“Our ICAC investigators and prosecutors work hard to deliver justice for these tragically young victims of such disturbing crimes,” said Attorney General Labrador in the release. “I’m grateful for the partnerships that have been built across the state and the awareness raised across the state, and for the judges who take these crimes seriously when determining sentences. Protecting our community is a team effort, and we’ve built a great team.”
The investigation was led by Detective Jared Mendenhall with the Idaho Falls Police Department, who serves in the Attorney General’s ICAC Unit. Deputy Attorney General Madison Allen prosecuted the case.
Background
On Oct. 10, 2023, an Idaho Falls Police detective began investigating a cyber tip alleging that 15 videos were uploaded to a cloud account in Idaho Falls and potentially contained child sexual abuse material.
The videos reportedly showed children between the ages of 18 months and five years old being raped by adults and forced to engage in bestiality, according to court documents.
The detective was able to find nine more videos, which also contained child pornography.
Eventually, the detective uncovered 245 more files. The detective “examined a majority of the files and found that all of the files (the detective) viewed contained (child sexual abuse material).”
Through a search of the phone number used on the cloud account, identified the person viewing the content as Bergener.
On Oct. 12, the detective was granted a search warrant for Bergener’s Synchronoss personal cloud account. The same day, the detective and a deputy with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office went to Bergener’s home.
They spoke to a relative, who confirmed Bergener lived in the house’s basement and was “here most of the time.” However, the relative said he was in Arizona for work.
The deputy then called Bergener’s cell phone and left a message saying he needed to contact him about his sex offender registration.
On Oct. 23, the detective received a response from the search warrant for Bergener’s cloud account. According to the police report, it contained “several .zip files” containing the contents of the cloud account.
The first folder reportedly showed a photo of a man in a baseball cap and an orange safety vest. When compared to a photo of Bergener, the detective says it appeared to be the same person.
Another 14 folders reportedly contained child sexual abuse material, showing children between the ages of 5 and 12 years old being raped and abused by adults.
Bergener was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail with a bond of $500,000.
Anyone with information regarding the exploitation of children is encouraged to contact local police, the Attorney General’s ICAC Unit at (208) 947-8700, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678.
The Attorney General’s ICAC Unit works with the Idaho ICAC Task Force, a coalition of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, to investigate and prosecute those who use the internet to criminally exploit children.
Parents, educators and law enforcement officials can find more information and helpful resources at ICACIdaho.org.