Fort Myers, Florida – A chilling sentence has been meted out to Patrick William Cotton, 48, of North Fort Myers. U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber today sentenced this sex predator to six years and six months in federal prison for his heinous act of possessing and accessing child sexual abuse images and videos.
Cotton’s crime spree began on February 14, 2024, when he knowingly accessed and viewed such despicable content. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) got wind of Cotton’s depravity after an electronic service provider flagged his cellphone as containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The FBI stepped in, executing a search warrant on Cotton’s social media account to uncover even more grotesque videos and images. In November 2024, they struck again at his residence, seizing two cellphones that contained further CSAM evidence.
Cotton’s own words sealed his fate when he confessed to using social media applications to gather this material. He had even paid a person to send him links to CSAM through another platform.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Myers Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava handled the prosecution.
Cotton’s sentence is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative since 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. To learn more about this critical effort, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes|Cybercrime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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