Cyber Safety
Learn about the risks of and tactics used by online predators as well as what constitutes a cyber crime and how to report it
Learn how to identify potential threats that could endanger your child as well as important tips and safety measures
Information about protecting yourself while surfing the internet, safeguarding personal information and avoiding potentially dangerous situations
Learn how to protect yourself online while playing games, surfing the internet and having fun
Contact Us
| address: |
Attorney General of Florida The Capitol, PL-01 Tallahassee, FL 32399 |
| phone: | (850) 414-3300 |
| website: | www.myfloridalegal.com |
| online: | Contact Form |
| news: | Weekly Newsletter |
Please report information to help in the fight against child sexual exploitation.
Press Releases
Attorney General Bill McCollum Press Release
Printer FriendlyMcCollum: Orlando Man Gets 10 Years for Traveling to Meet “Boy” for Sex
TALLAHASSEE - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that an Orlando man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually soliciting a minor. John Scott Smith was charged with sexual solicitation after he went to Jacksonville intending to have a sexual encounter with a person he believed was a 13-year-old boy, but who in fact was an undercover Child Predator CyberCrime investigator from the Attorney General's Office. His prison sentence will be followed by five years of sex offender probation and requires mandatory electronic monitoring and registration with the state as a sexual offender.
Smith, 36, was arrested last May after he used his computer to solicit the “boy.” Within minutes of establishing contact, Smith had already solicited his intended victim with vivid sexual details and later e-mailed several sexual images of himself in order to convince the boy to meet him the next day in Jacksonville. Less than 24 hours after the initial meeting online, Smith traveled to the agreed upon location in Jacksonville and was arrested by authorities.
"This case leaves to the imagination the horrors that could have occurred if this victim had been real and if there were no efforts made to stop this type of perversion," said McCollum. "Without the dedicated work by this unit, countless children would be at the mercy of these internet predators."
Smith pled guilty to two counts of soliciting an illegal act from a minor via an online service and one count of transmission of material harmful to minors, both third- degree felonies. In addition to his prison and probation sentence, Smith must reimburse taxpayers for the cost of the state’s investigation and prosecution. The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.
Smith’s arrest was the 17th arrest made by officers with the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit since its inception only eight months earlier. The unit has arrested a total of 34 sexual predators in only fifteen months and is expanding enforcement and prosecution of these crimes in Florida.
The CyberCrime Unit's mission statement directs it to protect children from computer-facilitated sexual exploitation. Unit members do this by working cooperatively on a statewide basis with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to provide resources and expertise, while preventing the spread of these crimes through education and community awareness. The agencies involved in this case were all members of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a federally funded program working nationwide to educate and support law enforcement to stop Internet crime against children.
A copy of the criminal charges filed against Smith is available at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-6XHQJZ/$file/Smith_Information.pdf