News

24-year-old sentenced to prison on child-sex offense felonies

By Lightning Reports, Published: January 7, 2025

A 24-year-old defendant was sentenced to up to 17½ years in prison on Tuesday after he was convicted on four sexual offense charges involving a child, District Attorney R. Andrew Murray announced.

After Jesse Bernard Floyd, 24, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted statutory sexual offense with a child 15 years of age or younger, taking indecent liberties with a child, soliciting a child by computer and disseminating obscenities to a minor under 16, Superior Court Judge Lisa Bell sentenced Floyd to at least 10 years and 5 months and up to 17½ years in prison and ordered him to register as a sex offender once released from prison.

According to the investigation and court trial records, Floyd befriended the child on the social media website “Sniffies” and started soliciting the child for nude pictures and sex. After building an online rapport, Floyd was able to convince the child to allow him to come to his home in Polk County. The child became nervous about the meeting and alerted a family member. Floyd was found unclothed in the home of the child and was attempting to carryout sexual acts upon the child.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Van Buren handled the prosecution and sentencing of the crimes. Murray thanked Polk County Sheriff’s Office lead Detective Caleb Edwards as well as the Polk County Sheriff’s Office for their professional and thorough investigation of this case. The D.A. also thanked and commended the critical and essential role of the Safelight Child Advocacy Center in the case.

“My office, along with our dedicated and professional partners, is committed to protecting children from child predators and cautions parents to diligently limit and monitor their children’s access to social media platforms,” Murray said.