Mugshot of John Jackson. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT
John Jackson, the well-known boxer from a prominent family on St. Thomas will face between 30 and 40 years behind bars if the sentencing judge concurs with a memorandum from DOJ prosecutors.
Jackson was on trial for 6 counts altogether of first-degree rape, aggravated second-degree rape, transportation of a minor for sex and production of child pornography. The charges stem from shocking allegations that Jackson met and sexually assaulted three teen girls between 2017 and 2019, when he was between 30 and 33 years old.
During his trial, the jury learned that Jackson had confessed to police having sex with at least one of his victims, a 15-year-old girl, who he said had given him the gift of oral sex for this birthday. The jury was also shown video Jackson had recorded of him having sex with the girl.
The first time police became aware of the allegations was in February 2019, when the father of the 15-year-old came forward to inform them that Jackson was having sex with his minor daughter. The federal government soon took over the case, and thereafter found and identified two additional victims, who eventually reluctantly cooperated with investigators, providing them with information and testifying against Jackson in court.
The three told the court that Jackson would provide them with alcohol and marijuana — baked into brownies or rolled up into joints — before having sex with them at his Estate Mannndahl residence or in his car, a red Acura sedan. Jackson, the girls said, never partook of the cannabis items.
The first victim said she’d met Jackson in a Facebook messenger group chat and was introduced to him by another minor girl — the one designated by prosecutors as Jane Doe 2.
Jane Doe 2 met Jackson when she was a 14-year-old high school freshman. He was 29, but told her that he was a decade younger. Jane Doe 2 testified during the trial that Jackson picked her up one time from school along with another minor girl, drove them both to a house in the Nadir area of St. Thomas, and then performed oral sex on the two of them before having sexual intercourse with each. Jane Doe 2 had been wearing her school uniform when Jackson collected her from the compound of the education institution. She also said that she’d been given marijuana to consume by Jackson. Jane Doe told the court that once she’d introduced the boxer to Jane Doe 1 through the group chat, Jackson stopped communicating with her altogether.
Jane Doe 3 said she met Jackson when he introduced himself to her on Facebook Messenger. It was the summer of 2017, and she was 16 years old. About four days after that first introduction, she said she and Jackson met for the first time. They didn’t have sex that time — just talking and listened to music — but later that same summer he’d take her to his house to have sex. After the first encounter, Jane Doe 3 told the court Jackson gave her $60.00.
The third victim said Jackson would pick her up from school as well, have sex with her either in his home or in the back of a delivery truck he drove, and then drop her at her home afterwards. At one point, Jackson bought her a phone after her mobile was damaged in the September 2017 hurricanes. The last time Jane Doe 3 had sex with Jackson, she says he had come to her school with emergency contraception for her. After watching her exchange pleasantries with one of her schoolmates, Jackson reportedly asked Jane Doe 3 to have a threesome with the girl, but the 10th grader told him that the other girl was too young. She says she asked Jane Doe 2 if she was willing, and she was. That was when Jackson took the two minor children to his house, where the three of them had sex. After the threesome, Jane Doe three said communications between her and Jackson tapered off — he was now more interested in Jane Doe 2.
In the federal government's sentencing memorandum, prosecutors allege that Jackson tried to obstruct the progress of investigators in the case. He reportedly tried to convince one victim not to move forward because he had children. His frequent requests for new counsel, often made on the eve of jury selection and trial, were deemed to be a delay tactic, and not legitimate efforts to seek effective counsel. His actions, prosecutors argue, cause sensitive information about the minor girls he had already victimized to be circulated in the public domain — causing them additional stress and exposing them to harassment from the public. Prosecutors also learned that people connected to Jackson apparently had approached at least one victim to offer a bribe in exchange for her declining to testify.
The DOJ argues that Jackson is an inveterate and unrepentend sexual predator of minor girls — they allege in the memorandum that he deliberately canvassed school compounds and targeted minor girls on social media, luring them into sexual exploitation with gifts of cash, jewelry, alcohol and drugs.
While his conviction hinged on charges relating to the sex abuse of three teen girls, investigators say they found a total of six victims, however the other three were afraid to participate in the case against Jackson. Negative reactions on social media after the first victims were identified, prosecutors say, may have intimidated additional others from coming forward. Even the girls who were co-operating with the investigation were reluctant to name others who they were aware Jackson had targeted.
U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands, Delia Smith concludes at the end of the memorandum that Jackson’s predatory nature combined with his lack of remorse, plus the horrific facts of the case all point to between three and four decades behind bars as the most fitting term of incarceration for the convicted sex offender. It is now up to Judge Robort Molloy Jr. to consider the aggravating and mitigating factors in the case, and calculate Jackson’s final sentence.
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