The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office has announced that an Eagle Point woman has received a sentence of 13 years in federal prison for allegedly taking sexually explicit photos of an 8-year-old and sending them to people she met online.

31-year-old Kayla Dee Lester was sentenced to 156 months in prison and 20 years of supervised release. The investigation began in January 2020 when Jackson County Sheriff’s Office detectives and Homeland Security Investigations received a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of child porn being downloaded from a residence in the 600 block of East Archwood Drive in Eagle Point.

In 2020, Lester took sexually explicit photos of an 8-year-old and sent them to people online, according to court documents. When Lester was interviewed by police, she admitted to using Whisper and other social media apps to meet people and solicit child pornography. Authorities say she also admitted to sending the images she took of the 8-year-old in hopes that they would send her child pornography in return.

Lester was indicted by a federal grand jury in Medford on three counts on September 17, 2020. On May 10, 2023, Kayla Dee Lester pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography. Lester was arrested for possessing an internet-connected cell phone in violation of her release conditions while awaiting sentencing on July 6, 2023.

The cell phone contained nude images of herself and other adults who she was chatting with online, according to authorities. Authorities say there were chats in which Lester described sexually abusing the 8-year-old victim on the phone as well.

A forensic search of the phone revealed 44 videos of child pornography. As a result, Lester’s pretrial release was revoked on July 10, 2023.