JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 49-year-old Jacksonville man accused of using underage "models" to engage in sex acts in order to create pornographic images and videos has been convicted of two counts of producing child pornography and faces from 15 to 30 years in federal prison.
According to court documents and evidence presented used in the trial, Thomas Leslie Carr admitted that he had hired about 15 girls from a convicted sex trafficker named Michael Gallon over a three-year period. Carr said he paid the girls for photo sessions at his home that usually consisted of photographing the girls wearing an outfit, stripping nude and then wearing a costume. He said that he usually tried to get the girl to masturbate for him on video, then he would attempt to have sex with her. If the girl was reluctant, Carr would offer her more money.
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Carr has been in custody since his August 2016 arrest. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 21.
A 2012 investigation of Gallon found that he recruited victims to travel and work at so-called parties and VIP rooms as “models,” where customers paid to have sex with them. During the investigation, Carr was identified as one of his regular customers. Gallon pleaded guilty in 2014 and was sentenced to 33 years and nine months in federal prison.
During the search of Carr’s residence, agents recovered computer media that contained images and videos of at least two minors, ages 15 and 17, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
This case was investigated by the Lakeland Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement‘s Homeland Security Investigations offices in Jacksonville and Tampa.
