Army major in Georgia gets 30 years on child porn charge

AUGUSTA, Ga. — An Army officer in Georgia who held a top-secret security clearance has been sentenced to serve three decades in federal prison for producing child pornography, authorities said Monday.

A federal judge sentenced 41-year-old Jason Michael Musgrove to serve 30 years after he pleaded guilty to production of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine said in a news release. Musgrove must also pay $9,000 in restitution to the victims and register as a sex offender.

“The disturbing and despicable nature of such predators only increases their danger to the community, and Musgrove’s long sentence immediately makes the community safer,” Christine said in the release.

When Musgrove was arrested in December 2019, he was a U.S. Army major assigned to the Army Cyber Command at Fort Gordon in Augusta, where he worked as an integrated threats operations officer with a top-secret security clearance.

The news release says Musgrove faces administrative separation from the Army, which essentially means he’s being fired.

Musgrove admitted to producing and attempting to share child pornography online, and his actions were uncovered by the FBI, the release said.

“It is beyond comprehension that someone in a position sworn to protect American citizens would take advantage and traumatize vulnerable children,” Special Agent Chris Hacker, who heads the FBI in Atlanta, said in the release. “The FBI is committed to protecting our children by identifying and apprehending predators who commit such abhorrent crimes.”