Dallas inmate used jail video call system to coerce girl into making child pornography
A North Texas inmate was sentenced to over 28 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to making an underage girl produce sexually explicit videos, authorities said.
Obadiah Fraser, 26, was indicted in September 2022 and pleaded guilty in May 2023 to production of child pornography. He was sentenced last week to 340 months in prison and was ordered to register as a sex offender, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton said in a news release.
“This defendant willfully exploited a minor by coercing the victim into producing sexually explicit material without any regard for the mental and physical anguish his offenses would cause,” Lester R. Hayes Jr., special agent in charge of HSI Dallas, said in the release.
While incarcerated in the Dallas County Jail on an unrelated charge of possession of child pornography, Fraser used the jail’s video visitation kiosk to communicate with a 17-year-old girl, according to the release.
The teen used Fraser’s cellmate’s wife’s account to communicate with him, the release says. The video visitation platform requires users to be 18 years or older to operate.
During their calls — monitored by a third-party company — Fraser told the girl to make sexually explicit videos of herself, according to the release. When she hesitated, Fraser yelled and cursed at her, prosecutors said.
🚨 More top stories from our newsroom:
→ TCU reveals new details for major expansion of housing
→ Civil rights complaint filed against FWISD
→ Jailer accused of deploying pepper spray in Anthony Johnson’s mouth quits
[Get our breaking news alerts.]
When jail officials confronted Fraser about the videos, he admitted to making them and said he knew the child was only 17, according to the investigation.
Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and the full cooperation of Dallas County Jail.
