A St. Cloud man was indicted for a crime committed while stationed at the South Pole.
29-year-old Justin Vancott-Harnish, of St. Cloud in Osceola County in Central Florida, was charged by federal indictment for trafficking of a minor.
According to the indictment, between February 28 and March 28, 2025 at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, a location within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, Vancott-Harnish solicited a minor victim to engage in a commercial sex act.
According to the Department of Justice, this happened while he was a U.S. Antarctic Program subcontract employee.
If convicted, Vancott-Harnish faces a minimum sentence of 15 years, up to life, in federal prison. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
This case was investigated by the U.S. National Science Foundation – Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, and the St. Cloud Police Department. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kaley Austin-Aronson for the Middle District of Florida and Department of Justice Trial Attorney McKenzie Hightower of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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.
