Nantucket Resident Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Transporting Child Sexual Abuse Material

A Nantucket resident has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for transporting child sexual abuse material, a criminal case that began two years ago at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.

Jossue Ovidio Tejada, 31, who worked in plumbing and HVAC on the island, was sentenced on Tuesday, March 24th by U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell. Tejada's 15-year prison sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, during which he will be required to register as a sex offender and pay $79,300 in restitution.

“This is about as serious an offense as it gets," Judge Bell said during the sentencing hearing. "What is depicted in those videos actually happened.”

According to a press release issued by Russ Ferguson, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, Tejada flew into Charlotte on an international flight from the Dominican Republic on March 1, 2024.

"During an inspection at Passport Control, a Customs and Border Patrol Officer conducted a border search of Tejada’s phone," the release states. "Upon opening one of the messaging apps on the phone, the officer discovered message threads related to CSAM (child sexual abuse material). Court records show that Tejada’s phone was submitted for a forensic examination. The analysis of the phone revealed it contained 4,162 files of CSAM, 7,500 identified as child erotica, 52 files depicting S&M (sadism and masochism) of minors, 418 files depicting sexual abuse of infants or toddlers, 24 files depicting bestiality with minors, and 1,550 files depicting CSAM of children under the age of 12. In addition, court records indicate that Tejada actively chatted with others to solicit, pay for, and distribute CSAM."

Tejada remains in custody pending placement at a federal facility by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

“If you possess child sexual abuse material, you will be caught,” Ferguson said in a statement. “My office is dedicated to protecting children, and we seek long sentences for those who harm and exploit them.”

According to court documents reviewed by the Current, Tejada was released from custody in August 2024 on a $200,000 bond with strict conditions that restricted any travel, prohibited him from possessing any pornographic material, mandated no contact with children under 18, and mandated that his Android device have monitoring software installed by the probation department. The documents show he was released into the custody of a female Nantucket resident identified as his "significant other."

Asked if the Nantucket Police Department was aware of the case, and if it had Tejada on its radar prior to his arrest, NPD Lieutenant Angus MacVicar said the Current's inquiry "is the first we have heard of this case. Thank you and we will be reaching out to the involved agencies."

Tejada's prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Cervantes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte. This case was brought as part of "Project Safe Childhood," a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. The initiative is led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), and 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.