The Middle District of Florida has prosecuted more than 1,500 individuals as part of Project Safe Childhood, United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced.
The Department of Justice launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, in May 2006. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
“From the beginning of Project Safe Childhood in 2006 through the present day, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida has been a national leader in aggressively prosecuting those sexual predators who seek to use the internet to harm and exploit children,” said United States Attorney Roger Handberg. “This year is a great example. In 2023, the United States Attorney’s Office has charged over 100 defendants for child exploitation offenses, our third highest total ever. These cases have involved defendants who have victimized, and attempted to victimize, children by coercing them to produce child sexual abuse material, by enticing them to engage in sexual conduct, and by distributing, receiving, transporting, and possessing material containing images of children being sexually abused.”
Some significant child exploitation cases from around Florida, including Naples, Jacksonville, Winter Garden, Fort McCoy, and St. Petersburg that were prosecuted in 2023 include:
In Fort Myers in April 2023, 51-year-old Jeffrey Holcombe, of Naples, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for producing images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of a child. According to court documents, as part of a separate investigation, law enforcement stopped Holcombe in his vehicle in Naples and observed a cellphone on the passenger seat. The FBI searched the phone pursuant to a search warrant and found images and videos of a minor being sexually abused. Agents went to Holcombe’s home and discovered the minor from the images and videos on Holcombe’s phone residing there. Further investigation revealed that Holcombe had been sexually abusing the minor, and that he often photographed, or video recorded his sexual abuse of the minor at his home and at various hotels. The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava.
In Jacksonville in September 2023, 44-year-old Paul Edward Lee, Jr., of Jacksonville, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for attempting to entice a 14-year-old child to produce and send him videos and images depicting the victim’s sexual abuse. According to evidence at trial, Lee, who had previously been convicted of crimes related to his sexual abuse of a minor and had already been designated as a sexual predator, sent sexually explicit messages to a 14-year-old child through a gaming application designed for use by children. An FBI agent took over control of the child’s account and communicated with Lee. Lee told the “child” in graphic terms how he wanted to have sex with the “child” and sent several explicit images and videos of himself to the “child.” Lee also solicited the “child” to produce and send him graphic images and videos of “herself.” When FBI agents executed a search warrant at Lee’s residence, Lee tried to damage his cellphone to destroy evidence of his criminal activity and was arrested. This case was investigated by the FBI and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
In Ocala in March 2023, 52-year-old Eddie Joe Oglesby, of Fort McCoy, was sentenced to 80 years in federal prison for producing and receiving child sex abuse material. According to evidence presented at trial, Oglesby created an elaborate false identity which he used to impersonate a federal agent. He then used this false identity to coerce underaged girls to produce and send him child sex abuse images over the internet. Posing as the false agent, Oglesby threatened to have the victims arrested, imprisoned, institutionalized, or killed if they did not comply with his demands. When the FBI searched Oglesby’s residence, they found him with an underaged female runaway. Agents ultimately found 473 pages of electronic communications between Oglesby and one of his victims on his cellphone. The case was investigated by the FBI, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Weatherford (Texas) Police Department, and the Cobb County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys William S. Hamilton and Hannah J. Nowalk.
In Orlando in October 2023, 22-year-old Michael Remaley, of Winter Garden, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for the producing and receiving child sex abuse material. According to court documents, over the course of a two-week span, Remaley used a social media app to entice a 14-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit videos of herself. Remaley also shared child sex abuse material with another user, including a video of a female child between the ages of five and eight years old being sexually abused. This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie A. McNeff.
In Tampa in May 2023, 38-year-old Brooke Sparks, of St. Petersburg, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for producing child sex abuse material. According to court documents, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received a tip from the Australian Federal Police and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Sparks was sharing child sexual abuse material via Facebook. Pursuant to a search warrant at Sparks’s home, investigators discovered that Sparks had produced videos of child sexual abuse material of a nine-year-old child and shared them with an Australian man. Sparks also used multiple platforms to send and receive images and videos of child sexual abuse material. This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with substantial assistance from St. Petersburg Police Department and the Australian Federal Police. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erin Claire Favorit.
“Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, will aggressively pursue those who prey on children” said Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Tampa Special Agent in Charge John Condon. “We are committed to identifying and arresting these egregious criminals, who produce and share horrible images of children being sexually exploited.”
United States Attorney Handberg continued, “I want to commend our law enforcement partners for their extraordinary work on these cases. Through their outstanding efforts, our law enforcement partners have rescued children, dismantled conspiracies that have victimized children, and built cases that have led to successful prosecutions of prolific and dangerous offenders. Their work on these federal prosecutions has served to protect children in the Middle District of Florida and across the United States.”
In 2023, child exploitation cases prosecuted in the Middle District of Florida were investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Apopka Police Department, the Army Criminal Investigation Division, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Fort Myers Police Department, the Glades County Sheriff’s Office, the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the United States Marshals Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the North Port Police Department, the Ocala Police Department, the Ocoee Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Orlando Police Department, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, the Palmetto Police Department, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the United States Secret Service, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Petersburg Police Department, the Sarasota Police Department, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, the Tampa Police Department, and other state and local partners.
These child exploitation Florida cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tyrie Boyer, D. Rodney Brown, John Cannizzaro, Belkis Crockett, Amanda Daniels, Courtney Derry, Noah Dorman, Erin Favorit, John Gardella, William Hamilton, Stacie Harris, Abigail King, Shannon Laurie, Stephanie McNeff, David Mesrobian, Kirwinn Mike, Mark Morgan, Adam Nate, Hannah Nowalk, Courtney Richardson-Jones, Ross Roberts, Michael Sartoian, Ilyssa Spergel, Sarah Swartzberg, Laura Cofer Taylor, Megan Testerman, Karyna Valdez, Yolande Viacava, Ashley Washington, and Kara Wick and Special Assistant United States Attorney Rachel Lyons.
For more information about other child exploitation cases, visit the Middle District of Florida, or visit Project Safe Childhood for more information on the initiative.
