Air Force airman at Joint Base Andrews pleads guilty in CSAM case

An Air Force senior airman living at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County pleaded guilty after federal investigators tied online child sexual abuse material to his residence on the base and later found more than 200 illicit files on his devices. Jacob Michael Young, 25, of Charleston, West Virginia, faces 3.5 to 10 years in federal prison if the court accepts the plea agreement.

The case began with four CyberTips to the FBI from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children after Kik reported that about 56 suspected CSAM files had been uploaded by four different Kik accounts between November 2024 and January 2025. Investigators traced the IP address linked to those accounts to Young’s residence at Joint Base Andrews, then executed a search warrant there and seized multiple devices.

Young admitted during questioning that he had messaged with other Kik users about exchanging CSAM. He also said he sometimes paid for the material with gift cards or money sent through CashApp, and subpoenaed records confirmed those payments. A forensic examination of his devices turned up more than 200 CSAM files, deepening the federal case against him.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis set sentencing for Tuesday, September 8, at 10 a.m. Prosecutors said the case was handled as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Justice Department initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, with help from the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

The case carries clear implications for Prince George’s County, where Joint Base Andrews sits in the center of a major federal and military footprint. A National Capital Planning Commission staff report describes the installation as having roughly 17,000 daytime workers and about 2,600 residential population, a reminder that misconduct tied to the base can reverberate far beyond a single unit or housing area.

For victims and anyone who suspects online exploitation, the federal system now centers on NCMEC’s CyberTipline, the reporting channel for suspected online child sexual exploitation and CSAM, and on Project Safe Childhood, the Justice Department’s nationwide enforcement effort. In this case, platform reporting, federal cyber tips, military investigators and a search warrant all converged on a service member living in Prince George’s County.