Iowa sex offender sentenced to 20 years for child porn involving Merced County teen

An Iowa man received a 20-year prison term for receiving child pornography involving six underage girls, including a 15-year-old from Merced County.

Jacob Watters, 24, was sentenced Jan. 24 in U.S. District Court in Davenport, Iowa. He pleaded guilty in August after making a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

According to court records, the mother of a Merced County teenager contacted local authorities Aug. 18, 2014, after finding “inappropriate” photographs and messages involving Watters on her daughter’s iPod. The girl told Merced County-area investigators she met Watters about a year earlier on Facebook and did not know where he lived, according to a copy of the plea agreement obtained by the Sun-Star.

Court records do not indicate which Merced County law enforcement agency conducted the initial investigation. Local authorities learned Watters lived in Davenport and alerted that city’s police department to the case.

Davenport police learned Watters and the victim communicated between July and August 2014 “with indications that their relationship began in 2013,” according to court records.

Authorities said the girl sent Watters about 35 pictures and he sent her 18. Watters later admitted the two also had “video sex” on three occasions.

“Many of the text messages are sexually explicit,” court records state. “Also, there is a chat on the iPod that makes it clear that this victim told Watters that she is 15 years of age.”

Prosecutors said electronic devices found during a search of Watters’ Davenport home, where he lived with his mother, showed he’d been doing the same with six other underage girls.

At the time of the communications, Watters was a registered sex offender and on state probation for lascivious acts with a minor, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Iowa.

Investigators said Watters used the same “modus operandi for every girl.”

“He contacts young Latina girls and showers them with praise. Within minutes, he asks them to be with him only, he tells them he is fragile and will be faithful, meanwhile texting/sexting with other girls at the same time,” court records state.

Authorities also said Watters would “take on a female identity and contact the girls posing as a female relative of Watters.”

“Sometimes he uses this persona to make the girls jealous,” court records state. “Eventually, he exchanges sexually explicit pictures and/or sexually explicit videos with the minor females.”

In addition to the prison term, Watters also will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from custody.

This story was originally published February 2, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Iowa sex offender sentenced to 20 years for child porn involving Merced County teen."