Taylorsville Man Sent To Prison In Child-Sex Case

27-year old Dustin Malachi Jernigan of Taylorsville pleaded pursuant to an Alford decision to three counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor in Alexander County Superior Court on June 6th. He also entered a plea to failing to register an address change as a sex offender and failure to report new online identifier as a sex offender.

Jernigan was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 20-84 months in prison and three consecutive terms of 20-34 months and 13-25 months suspended.

The defendant must register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

Jernigan was arrested by the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office in May of 2021. The arrest was the result of an investigation that originated in with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Jernigan was using an unregistered email address and a social media account to send child pornography via the Internet.

According to the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry, Jernigan was convicted in 2019 of sexual battery. Records indicate the victim of the sexual battery was 8 years old.

Photo: Alexander County Sheriff’s Office