Convicted sex offender sentenced to 25-to-life on child pornography charges

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. - A registered sex offender was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for possession of child pornography.

Joshua Steven Jackson, 38, was sentenced to state prison for possession of more than 600 images of child pornography involving sadism or masochism, an having 10 or more images involving a child under 12 years old.  

Jackson, a two-time felony sex offender, was sentenced under California's Three Strikes Law. The law was enacted in 1994 to allow for harsher sentencing of repeat serious or violent offenders.

In 2002, Jackson was convicted in San Luis Obispo County for three separate counts of serious and violent child sexual abuse of children under the age of fourteen. He was sentenced to serve ten years in prison for that crime.  

In 2012, he was convicted of possession of child pornography and sentenced to serve four more years in state prison.

Previous attempts to commit Jackson to state hospital as a sexually violent predator fell short in 2015 and 2016. He was released back into the community at that time.

In March 2018, Jackson was contacted after the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office received a tip that he was in possession of child pornography. He was prosecuted after investigators learned that he had downloaded approximately 990 images of child pornography.

In August 2019, Jackson pleaded no contest to two counts of child pornography possession.

"This three-strikes life sentence demonstrates that anyone who harms children in our community will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow in a press release.