ERIE, Pa. (EYT) — After deliberating about five hours, a federal jury on Friday found Jeffrey Colin Rogers guilty of six counts of violating federal laws relating to the sexual exploitation of children, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced on Monday.

Rogers, 59, was tried before United States District Judge Stephanie L. Haines in Erie, Pennsylvania.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold, who prosecuted the case, the evidence presented at trial established that in November 2017, Rogers used his phone to take multiple sexually explicit photos of two minors after providing them marijuana and alcohol at his apartment in Sheffield, Pennsylvania. Rogers then kept the photos on his phone. Rogers also had sexual contact with the two minor victims. The Pennsylvania State Police discovered the illegal images after executing a search warrant at Rogers’ apartment in February 2018 and seizing Rogers’ phone.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the 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 locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Judge Haines scheduled sentencing for December 5, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. The law provides for a total sentence of 160 years in prison, a fine of $1,500,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based on the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pennsylvania State Police conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Rogers.