CITRUS COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – A Citrus County jury convicted a man who attempted to solicit a child for sex and then a judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
Jurors found Jeff Adams, 46, guilty after a 9-minute deliberation.
“Adams knowingly sent sexually explicit messages to who he believed was a minor. Luckily, it was a law enforcement officer posing as a 14-year-old boy but that’s not always the case,” said William “Bill” Gladson, Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, the 46-year-old was arrested in March of this year during an operation conducted by the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) called “Lucky Strike.” The operation was started to catch ‘cyber predators’ attempting to engage in sex with children.
CCSO worked alongside the United States Secret Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; sheriff’s offices in Marion, Hernando, and Sumter Counties; as well as the Tavares Police Department to catch online predators.
During the operation, detectives posed as minors on various websites waiting to be solicited by predators. According to CCSO, Adams was one out of eleven individuals arrested during the operation. Adams was arrested on charges of traveling to seduce/solicit a child in sex act and the unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Adams also admitted to CCSO detectives that if the 14-year-old child would have shown up to the meeting place, he would have ‘taken a photo of the child’ and used it later for ‘sexual gratification’ said the state attorney’s office in a Facebook post.
Adams will also have to register as a sexual offender. The State Attorney’s Office says Adams already served 10 years in prison for a 2001 sexual offense that they say pled down to a non-sex offense and therefore did not require him to register as a sex offender.
“We are proud of our detectives and partners at the State Attorney’s Office for their tireless efforts during this operation and in protecting our children,” said CCSO.