PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (WJTV) – A Pearl River man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for production of child pornography.

According to court documents, Garald Benson Johnson, 43, admitted to filming himself having sexual intercourse with a minor.

Johnson was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 16, 2023. He pled guilty on August 29, 2023, to production of child pornography.

The Choctaw Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.

GULFPORT, Miss. (WJTV) – A D’Iberville man sentenced to 120 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for transferring obscene material to a minor in the Philippines. 

Jeffery Steward, 54, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Gulfport. 

According to court documents, Steward used the internet and a social media account of a minor in the Philippines to transfer pornography links of obscene material to the minor victim via messages. They said he knew the victim was less than 16 years old.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Cyber Crime Division at the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and the Philippine National Police. 

After a stellar sophomore season, Mississippi State outfielder Dakota Jordan has once again been recognized for his outstanding on-field performance.

Baseball America, a leading college baseball publication, named Jordan a third team All-American on Friday, Jordan’s second All-America honor of the season.

Jordan also won the Ferriss Trophy, presented annually to the best college baseball player in Mississippi, and was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award for the best amateur baseball player in the United States.

Jordan excelled for the Bulldogs in 2024, leading the team in home runs (20), RBIs (72), hits (85) and slugging percentage (.671). Jordan had the seventh-best batting average in the SEC, hitting .354. His 20 home runs are the eighth-most in a single season at Mississippi State and he led the team with 26 multi-hit games and 21 multi-RBI games. He was the only Mississippi State player to notch a five-hit game this season.

In two seasons, Jordan appeared in 107 games for State and had a career batting average of .336. He blasted 30 homers and drove in 112 runs along with scoring 86 runs. He had 132 hits for his career and 55 extra base hits. Jordan’s on-base percentage stands at .435 over his two seasons.

Jordan becomes the first position player since RJ Yeager in 2022 to earn multiple All-American honors in the same season and the first outfielder to do so since Tanner Allen in 2021.

Philip Poe is sports editor.

MSU