INDIANA (WEHT) – A news release states two Southern Indiana child sex offenders were sentenced to federal prison for conspiring to distribute child sexual abuse material.

Documents say Jason E. Jolley, 43, of Evansville, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute and receive sexually explicit materials involving children and distribution of sexually explicit materials involving children. Court documents say Scott J. Spear, 50, of Newburgh, pled guilty to conspiring with Jolley to distribute the child sexual abuse materials and was sentenced on October 18 to five years in federal prison.

According to court documents, between January 15, 2016, and February 1, 2016, Jolley and Spear communicated with each other using email. Officials say during their communications, both Jolley and Spear discussed their mutual interest in finding and viewing sexually explicit material involving children. Authorities say Jolley and Spear also sent images to each other depicting the sexual abuse of children.

Documents say on November 15, 2016, Jolley used a social media app to distribute an image depicting a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct to an undercover law enforcement officer in Washington D.C. Officials say the images distributed and received by Jolley and Spear included depictions of the sexual abuse of pre-pubescent children.

Authorities say as part of the sentence, the judge ordered that Jolley be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for ten years following his release from federal prison. Documents say Spear was ordered to be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for seven years following his release from prison. Officials say both Jolley and Spear must also register as a sex offender wherever they live, work, or go to school, as required by law.

Court documents say for fiscal year 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, the Southern District of Indiana was second out of the 94 federal districts in the country for the number of child sexual exploitation cases prosecuted