Slidell Man Gets Nearly 10 Years in Prison for Receiving Child Sexual Abuse Material

Jonathan Suarez, age 30 and a resident of Slidell, Louisiana, was sentenced on April 21, 2026 to 118 months in prison by Chief United States District Judge Wendy B. Vitter, after previously pleading guilty to receiving child sexual abuse material (CSAM), announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle. In addition to the prison term, Chief Judge Vitter sentenced Suarez to eight (8) years of supervised release after his term of imprisonment and payment of a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. Suarez will also be required to register as a sex offender and pay $42,000 in restitution to the victims of his crime.

According to the court documents, beginning in early 2024, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agents investigated the purchase of files depicting the sexual exploitation of children over the internet. The investigation revealed that Suarez sent, and attempted to send, money via CashApp to accounts known to be used for the primary purpose of receiving funds in exchange for the transmission of CSAM on at least six occasions between February 2023 and August 2023. On April 10, 2025, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at Suarez’s residence, at which time they seized his Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max. A forensic review of the phone identified at least 186 images and 853 videos, some as long as over 49 minutes, depicting the sexual victimization of children. The review also determined that Suarez downloaded, saved, and maintained his collection of CSAM on multiple dates between February 2023 and April 2025. Suarez saved the files in approximately 145 custom-made file folders with representative names describing the content. Some of the child victims depicted in the materials received were children as young as approximately two years old.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

U.S. Attorney Courcelle praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, Chief of the Criminal Division, is in charge of the prosecution.