Jack Dymond Leach, Child Sex Trafficking, Florida 2025

A St. Augustine business owner has pleaded guilty to attempting to use a minor child for the production of a sexual abuse video.

According to federal prosecutors, Jack Dymond Leach, 43, of St. Augustine, pleaded guilty to attempting to use a minor child to produce and send him videos and photos depicting the child being sexually abused by a child sex trafficker in the Philippines.

Leach faces a minimum penalty of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release.

The crime was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Clay County Sheriff's Office, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, and the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force.

Leach was arrested on May 29, 2025, and has been in custody since that time. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 20, 2026.

The investigation revealed that Leach's app account and the other two app accounts used by child traffickers in the Philippines exchanged 1,287 messages and 32 media files between November 19, 2023, and March 20, 2024.

Leach offered to pay the trafficker for producing a video depicting a minor child engaging in specific sexually explicit conduct and sending it to him. He sent the trafficker about $160 using an electronic payment system to produce and send the video of the child being sexually abused.

The case was 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.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/st-augustine-business-owner-pleads-guilty-attempting-use-minor-child-production-sexual