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Philadelphia Man Sentenced to 70 Years for Child Sexual Exploitation

Jerome Edwards received an 840-month prison sentence following his guilty plea to federal child pornography charges.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 20, 2026, 9:40 a.m. ET
On August 12, 2026, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced that Jerome Edwards, 55, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was to 840 months' imprisonment and five years of supervised release. According to official records from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the sentence was delivered by U.S. District Judge Gerald J. McHugh for the manufacture and attempted manufacture of child pornography in a developing legal matter. Edwards is also subject to mandatory sex offender registration under SORNA and Megan's Law. Official records show Edwards pleaded guilty in December to all nine counts against him following a September 2022 indictment. Between June 5, 2022, and June 27, 2022, Edwards produced at least 77 images and 54 videos of child sexual abuse material involving children between the ages of three and nine years old, which were recovered from his cell phone by the FBI. The conduct came to light on June 27, 2022, when a victim disclosed the abuse to a sibling. At the time of the crimes, Edwards was actively wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service for absconding from a residential reentry center in February 2022 after serving a 12-year federal prison sentence for two gunpoint robberies. The case was investigated by the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Department Special Victims Unit, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Harrell under Project Safe Childhood.

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  1. Version 120 Aug 2026, 13:40current

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