A 36-year-old Orange Park man who pleaded guilty in April to child sex trafficking was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit a 2015 Ford Focus that he used in committing the offense.
Gregory Thomas Garcia will be required to register as a sex offender after serving his prison term.
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A hearing to determine restitution to the victim has been scheduled for Oct. 12. Garcia pleaded guilty on April 6.
According to court documents, in September 2020, an agent with Homeland Security Investigations became aware of messages exchanged between Garcia and the child victim. The messages, dating back to at least October 2019, reflected that Garcia was using the internet to entice the child victim to engage in commercial sex acts. The messages also appeared to reflect ongoing exploitation of the child victim.
When interviewed, the child victim confirmed that Garcia had contacted her and offered to pay her for sex. The child victim disclosed that on one occasion, Garcia had planned to pick the child victim up at her high school, and on another occasion, dropped her off at her high school. The child victim disclosed that, ultimately, Garcia had sexually exploited her on more than 20 occasions. The child victim also provided the HSI agent with additional communications that she had exchanged with Garcia using a popular online messaging application.
From Sept. 21-23, 2020, the HSI agent, posing as the child victim, communicated with Garcia via the same online messaging app. In these communications, Garcia agreed to meet the child victim in a parking lot and pay her $100 in exchange for the child victim allowing Garcia to sexually abuse her. On Sept. 23, 2020, Garcia obtained money to pay the child victim for sex, as well as a soda and candy for the child victim, and then traveled to meet her. Upon arrival, Garcia was arrested. During an interview with law enforcement, Garcia admitted that he had paid the child victim for sex on multiple occasions and that he knew the child victim, who was 16-17 years old, was underage.
This case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, 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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
This case resulted from the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s efforts to collaborate with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to detect, investigate, and prosecute coercive human trafficking. This includes the trafficking of minors, forced labor, transnational sex trafficking, and sex trafficking of adults by force, fraud, or coercion. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.