A former employee of a Laguna Hills church who secretly recorded underage congregants was sentenced this week to 40 years in federal prison after child pornography was found in his electronic devices during an inspection at Miami International Airport as he returned from a mission trip to Haiti.
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Jacob Melvin Hart, 46, of San Juan Capistrano pleaded guilty to attempted production of visual depictions involving sexual exploitation of a minor and transportation of visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.
The federal child pornography case has left Crossline Community Church, where Hart previously worked, embroiled in lawsuits alleging that while working for the Laguna Hills church Hart gave juvenile congregants computers equipped with software that allowed him to secretly record them nude in their bathrooms.
In the criminal case, federal prosecutors confirmed — and the defense admitted — that Hart secretly recorded minors through spyware installed on laptop computers and directed children overseas to produce child pornography.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents during their initial search of Hart’s electronic devices at Miami International discovered images and videos that prosecutors allege Hart had directed children in Russia to create. Civil lawsuits related to the federal allegations contend that 33 videos of child sexual abuse and approximately 160 AI-generated sexual images of minors were found in Hart’s devices.
Investigators said that while working as an IT consultant for a church in California — a description that matches Hart’s role at Crossline Community Church — Hart gave children laptops he had equipped with spyware that allowed him to remotely activate the computers’ cameras without their knowledge.
Using that spyware, federal prosecutors say, Hart secretly recorded at least eight children.
“This defendant weaponized technology and abused positions of trust to invade children’s most private spaces and sexually exploit them,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a written statement. “The 40-year sentence imposed on Jacob Melvin Hart means he will likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison.
“It protects children from a calculated predator,” the U.S. attorney said.
In 2006, federal prosecutors say, Hart was convicted of secretly installing a hidden camera in a girls’ locker room at a summer camp.
Lawsuits filed against Crossline Community Church allege that church officials were aware of Hart’s conviction in Oregon when they hired him in 2012 to manage their audiovisual and computer-technology operations. According to the lawsuits, Hart disclosed his conviction and a pornography addiction to his new bosses at Crossline.
Hart’s attorney, Reginald Tony Moss Jr., in a filing to a criminal court judge prior to Hart’s sentencing, described Hart as a “thoroughly broken man” as a result of his “inability to corral his most pernicious inner demon.” The defense attorney described Hart as suffering from a deep depression during his childhood, adding that pornography served as a “pleasurable, if momentary, distraction from his ongoing inner turmoil.”
Church officials have described the situation as “tremendously difficult,” and have noted that they proactively reached out to law enforcement.
“The Elders of Crossline Community church are deeply grieved by the actions of Jacob Hart and the pain and suffering he has caused, especially to the victims,” said a church statement released after Hart admitted to the allegations. “We have provided regular updates to the church, launched an independent investigation and strengthened our internal safety protocols, volunteer screenings and hiring processes.”
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