Former soldier Jason Charles Manuelito was sentenced in federal court in North Carolina on April 23, 2025, to more than 24 years in prison for producing child pornography. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)

A former U.S. soldier who authorities said solicited lewd images from children as young as 11 was given a prison term of more than two decades during his sentencing this week, according to the Justice Department.

A federal court in North Carolina sentenced Jason Charles Manuelito, 27, on Wednesday to 24-plus years behind bars for producing child pornography, a DOJ statement the same day said. He had pleaded guilty in June.

“Manuelito admitted he had been involved in online relationships with minors,” the statement said. “During those online interactions, both he and the victims engaged in sexualized conversations and exchanged illicit images.”

Manuelito’s rank, job and duty station were not listed in publicly available court records or the DOJ statement, which says investigators were tipped off to child pornography being uploaded by someone using an IP address “on the military base.”

Manuelito was prosecuted and sentenced by a court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, a region that includes Fort Bragg. The Army base near Fayetteville is the service’s largest installation by population.

Investigators discovered numerous conversations between Manuelito and minors. In those conversations, Manuelito encouraged the children to send pornographic images and engage in sexual acts, the statement said.

Court records state that Manuelito received illicit images from an unknown date until May 2021.

Investigators identified and interviewed approximately nine victims, with additional victims remaining unidentified, the Justice Department said.