Florida’s United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe dropped a bombshell this week as Matthew Eric Baumgardner, a registered sex offender from Jacksonville, admitted to using the internet to access child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
At age 49, Baumgardner faces an unforgiving minimum of ten years, with a potential sentence of up to twenty years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is set for December 12, 2025.
The grim saga began when law enforcement received an alert from a social messaging app that files containing CSAM were uploaded using the platform between May and June 2024. An investigation traced these uploads to Baumgardner’s account.
Despite his previous conviction in 2017 for possession of child pornography, traveling to meet a minor for unlawful activity, and using a two-way communication device unlawfully, Baumgardner seemed undeterred. His brazenness reached new heights when he admitted to accessing explicit content featuring children being sexually abused—a chilling revelation made during an interrogation on April 2025.
Forensic examination of his cellphone uncovered a sickening cache of at least 67 photos depicting young children being subjected to sadistic sexual abuse and bondage. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked tirelessly to bring Baumgardner to justice, their efforts part of Project Safe Childhood—an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in 2006 to combat child sex exploitation.
Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown is leading the prosecution against Baumgardner. For more information on Project Safe Childhood and its fight against child sexual exploitation, 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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