Jacksonville, Florida – Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced Dennis William Sheffield, Jr. (52, Keystone Heights) to 16 years and 3 months in federal prison for receipt of child sex abuse materials. Sheffield was also ordered to serve a life term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender. In addition, he was ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to victims of his offenses. Sheffield had pleaded guilty on December 16, 2022.
According to the plea agreement, in February 2022, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) began investigating Sheffield in response to a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The CyberTip indicated that child sex abuse material had been uploaded to a search engine. An IP address for the individual who had uploaded the materials was traced to Sheffield and law enforcement learned that Sheffield was listed as a predator on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Sexual Offenders and Predators registry because of two convictions (1996) of attempted sexual battery on a child under 12 years old.
On March 3, 2022, based on the CyberTip and identification of Sheffield as the subject, law enforcement obtained a federal search warrant for Sheffield’s residence. The following day, authorities executed the search warrant and encountered Sheffield, who was holding a phone in his hand. A preliminary examination of the cellphone revealed multiple files of child sex abuse materials on the phone. Sheffield admitted to having a problem and that he liked looking at child sex abuse images, which he admitted to having viewed as recently as a couple of days earlier. Sheffield also admitted to saving some of the images on his phone.
“This sexual predator has already served prison time for sexually exploiting children; he clearly did not learn his lesson,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge K. Jim Phillips. “Thanks to the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, Clay County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, this predator will spend a significant amount of time behind bars, again.”
This case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Washington.
It is another case 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 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Originally published at https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/sexual-predator-sentenced-more-16-years-federal-prison-receipt-child-sex-abuse-images
