A registered sex offender from Harwich with prior violent convictions was sentenced to prison for possessing child sexual abuse material, United States Attorney Leah Foley’s office said.
U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs sentenced Jonathan Fleischmann, 37, to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, Foley’s office said in a statement released Monday. He was also ordered to pay $7,500 in restitution.
Fleischmann pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography in July 2024, Foley’s office said.
“Despite his prior predatory behavior and the fact that he was already facing serious charges in state court — charges that involved ambushing and attempting to kidnap a young girl at gunpoint outside her home — this defendant continued to demonstrate a complete disregard for the safety and well-being of children by downloading hundreds of atrocious CSAM from the dark web,“ Foley said in the statement. ”Each image and video he viewed or shared re-victimized the real, vulnerable children depicted in them.”
He became a Level 3 sex offender after previous convictions in Barnstable District Court, one of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in 2006, as well as open and gross lewdness and possession of child pornography in 2017 for masturbating to child sex abuse material in a Honey Dew Donuts parking lot, the statement read.
The investigation into this incident found that Fleischmann accessed a dark web hidden service focused on trafficking child sex abuse material on his mobile phone, Foley’s office said. But Fleischmann was released in April 2021 on conditions, including cash bail and GPS monitoring. Due to prior convictions, he is not allowed to own digital devices.
Less than two years later, on March 18, 2023, law enforcement officials learned that Fleischmann was found downloading child sex abuse material files onto a phone at his job in Brewster, Foley’s office said.
His co-workers saw his phone while it was left open and charging on a counter, with files downloading visible on the screen. The files’ names “were consistent with” child sex abuse material,” Foley’s office said.
When he talked with officers at his home, Fleischmann denied owning the phone but eventually agreed to take it out, the statement read. After he produced it — previously hidden under a bathroom sink — investigators found about 255 images and 55 video files that showed child sex abuse material, “including files portraying child rape, sadistic or masochistic conduct and the abuse of infants or toddlers,” Foley’s office said.
Since he was arrested in May 2023, Fleischmann has remained in federal custody, Foley’s office said.
Fleischmann was also charged with home invasion, armed kidnapping and assault to rape after he invaded a Yarmouth home in September 2020, Foley’s office said. Fleischmann forcibly took a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint into her house as she arrived home from school.
In May 2024, he was sentenced to 12 years in state prison in connection with the home invasion, which he will serve concurrently with the federal sentence imposed on Monday, Foley’s office said.
“These crimes do not exist in a vacuum; they cause significant harm to the children and families affected,” Foley said in the statement. “Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness with which we treat these crimes and our commitment to protecting children from individuals like Mr. Fleischmann, who refuse to learn or take steps toward remediating their vile tendencies.”
