Jacksonville, Florida – Aaron Kirk Woolman (58, Hagerman, ID) has been arrested and charged with soliciting child sex abuse images over the internet and via text message. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years, and up to 30 years, in federal prison. Woolman made his initial appearance in Boise, Idaho on December 13, 2019, and currently remains in custody pending further proceedings in Jacksonville.    

According to court documents, on August 7, 2019, an undercover FBI agent in Jacksonville, who was posing as a parent of a 9-year-old “child,” made online contact with Woolman, who was using the user name “AWOOL61,” in an online chat application. During an online chat session, Woolman repeatedly asked for photos of the purported “child.” Between August 14 and August 21, 2019, Woolman and the undercover agent engaged in online conversation during which Woolman solicited the undercover agent to send pornographic images of the “child.”   

Additionally, Woolman engaged in text message conversations with a second undercover FBI agent who was posing as the 9-year-old child. During these conversations, Woolman solicited the “child” to engage in sexually explicit conduct, produce pornographic images of this conduct, and send these images to him. Woolman tried to convince the “child” to comply with his requests by sending the “child” explicit images of himself along with a video of a female engaged in sexual acts.          

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville and Boise, Idaho, as well as the Gooding County (ID) Sheriff’s Office and the Twin Falls (ID) Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.  

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.