Florida sex offender sentenced to 15 years for distribution of child sexual abuse material

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Florida man and previously convicted child predator was sentenced March 26 to 15 years in federal prison for distributing imagery and video depicting child sexual abuse on a social media application following a Northeast Florida Interagency Child Exploitation and Peoples Trafficking Task Force investigation that included U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Nicholes Scott Newman, 42, of Hilliard, was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender.

“This predator’s prior conviction did not deter him from continuing to victimize children by distributing vile child sexual abuse material,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Hemker. “The men and women of HSI and the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force will continue to work tirelessly to dismantle these networks and keep our communities safe.”

According to court records, in June 2024, a detective acting in an undercover capacity was monitoring a social media messaging group chat where Newman was distributing CSAM images and videos to others in the group. The undercover detective communicated directly with Newman who sent additional videos and images containing CSAM to the undercover detective.

In 2014, Newman was convicted in Pinellas County for 20 counts of possession of CSAM and was sentenced to Florida State Prison. He was released on Feb. 6, 2019.

This Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force case was investigated by ICE Homeland Security Investigations Jacksonville, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney John Cannizzaro.