Jacksonville, Florida – Acting United States Attorney Karin Hoppman announces today that a federal jury has found Colum Patrick Moran, Jr. (42, Jacksonville) guilty of attempting to entice minors to produce images and videos depicting child sexual abuse and also of possessing materials depicting the sexual exploitation of children. Moran face a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years, and up to 110 years, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. A sentencing hearing is set for July 12, 2021. Moran was arrested on March 6, 2019, and has been in custody since that date.
According to court documents and evidence and testimony presented during the three-day trial, between 2015 and late 2018, Moran, using the name “Emily lover,” made numerous postings to several internet motherhood blog websites. These blog websites were designed and intended to share and exchange information about motherhood, childcare, useful commercial products, and other topics related to family life. During this period, Moran repeatedly posted sexually explicit comments that targeted mothers and their young children by name on these blogs. Further, Moran intentionally posted graphic comments requesting that several mothers produce and post images and videos of their children engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
On March 6, 2019, FBI agents and other officers executed a search warrant at Moran’s apartment and seized several smart phones and computers that contained more than 1,000 images and videos depicting young children, including infants and toddlers, being sexually abused. One of the smart phones had been used by Moran to access numerous motherhood blog websites and contained images of sexually explicit postings made by Moran with usernames “Emily lover” and “Anonymous.” Agents also discovered a plastic storage bin in a bedroom closet that contained two dozen pairs of little girls’ underwear, as well as several firearms, ammunition, and a bulletproof vest with Velcro law enforcement identification patches.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville and Los Angeles, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, with the assistance of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Alexandria, Virginia. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
