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ICE arrests airman indicted on child pornography charges

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A staff sergeant at Kirtland Air Force Base, indicted on child pornography charges, appeared in federal court on Wednesday after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents arrested him on base.

Henry Jager, 34, a resident of Albuquerque, N.M., was arraigned by Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi on a federal indictment charging him with possessing child pornography. His detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday in federal court.

ICE special agents, working with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigation, arrested Jager on Tuesday at Kirtland Air Force Base. A federal grand jury indicted him last month.

The charges stem from a 2009 investigation by ICE special agents in Albuquerque and Air Force Office of Special Investigations. A forensic examination of Jager's home computers revealed sexually explicit images of children.

If convicted, Jager faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and lifetime of supervised release as well as a $250,000 fine for each of two counts of possessing a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.

Jager's arrest was part of Operation Predator, an ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. Since ICE launched Operation Predator in 2003, more than 12,000 child sex predators, sex tourists and child pornographers have been arrested.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.