Former Teacher Sentenced in in Federal Court after Explicit Snapchat Messages with a Minor

By Roberta Cantrell
BSN Editor

ASHLAND— A former Magoffin County Middle School teacher has been sentenced on a federal child enticement charge.

Jordan Cobb, 32, of Salyersville, pleaded guilty to a charge of online enticement back in October. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a cyberstalking charge.

According to his plea agreement, in April and May 2023, Cobb was employed as a middle school teacher, and he engaged in a Snapchat conversation with a former student of his, who was a minor. In the course of the conversation, Cobb sent the minor a series of sexually explicit messages, offers to provide the minor with marijuana, and a plan to meet for sexual intercourse.  

He admitted to engaging in a conversation with a 14-year-old former student in April and May of 2023. During that conversation, Cobb sent the child a series of sexually explicit messages, which included offers to provide the child with marijuana and a plan to meet for sex.

In Ashland federal court on Friday, Cobb was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service immediately after his sentencing Under federal law, Cobb must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 10 years.

Paul McCaffrey, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Olivia Olson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Division; and Col. Phillip J. Burnett, Jr., Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police jointly announced the conviction.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and KSP. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Blankenship is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.