Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced three child predators from Lee, Glades, and Okeechobee counties will spend a total of 79.5 years behind bars while speaking at a press conference in Naples this week.
"I can't think of anything more evil than the sexual abuse of a child, and trading, purchasing, and soliciting in this vile material perpetuates that abuse,” Uthmeier said in a release. “We’re throwing the book at these predators. Our statewide prosecutors have already secured over 800 years in prison sentences for crimes against children. Predators should know that if they come after children, they will lose your freedom.”
The announcement follows an investigation into peer-to-peer networks sharing child sexual abuse material and CyberTips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Search warrants later found laptops, hard drives, and thumb drives of the defendants with hundreds or thousands of CSAM files.
The following were sentenced:
- Robert Caesar Carrion: Sentenced to 28 years in prison. Carrion was charged with 25 counts of possession of CSAM.
- William Leroy Johnson Jr.: Sentenced to 27 years in prison. Johnson Jr. pled and was adjudicated guilty on 15 counts of possession of CSAM.
- Wayne Adams: Sentenced to 24.5 years in prison. Adams entered an open plea of no contest to 14 counts of possession of CSAM.
"Florida's children are safer today because of Attorney General Uthmeier and the men and women of FDLE," Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Larry Keefe said. "We lead the charge against child exploitation. We identify predators and build the cases that put them away. This is how it works in Florida: FDLE finds them, the Attorney General convicts them, and the Department of Corrections keeps them."
Two other individuals, Eduardo Antonio Arango Ruiz and Chandler Christian Jones, were also convicted of possessing CSAM and are awaiting sentencing. A third, Jeffery Howard Oppold was charged for allegedly possessing CSAM.
Attorney General Uthmeier's announcement follows the arrest of 21 child predators earlier this month.
