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Jacob Melvin Hart, 46, of San Juan Capistrano, California, received a 40-year federal prison sentence Wednesday for sexually exploiting children through spyware-equipped computers and directing minors overseas to produce child sexual abuse material. The Miami federal judge overseeing the case characterized the scope of Hart’s criminal conduct as “extraordinary,” according to court documents and statements from prosecutors.
Customs officers discovered child sexual abuse videos stored in a hidden, password-protected folder on Hart’s iPhone when he arrived at Miami International Airport on June 21, 2025, returning from Cap-Haïtien, Haiti on a Christian mission trip. The 33 illicit videos depicted girls as young as 10 years old, including material that Hart had directed minor children in Russia to create at his request, authorities said.
Law enforcement also identified approximately 160 artificial intelligence-generated images and videos depicting nude prepubescent and minor females on Hart’s devices. While employed as an information technology consultant at Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, Hart provided laptops equipped with spyware to several children and remotely activated their cameras without consent to secretly record at least eight minor victims.
Hart had previously served time following a 2006 conviction for placing a hidden camera in a girls’ bathroom and shower room at a Christian camp in Oregon. Despite this documented history, Crossline Community Church hired him, and the institution is now facing litigation from victims who claim church officials were aware of his prior conviction.
U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quinones stated the sentence ensures Hart “will likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison” and emphasized the government’s commitment to pursuing perpetrators of child sexual abuse material production regardless of whether victims are domestic or international. A restitution hearing is scheduled for September 1 in Miami federal court.
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