JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – James Butler, 41, was sentenced for production, attempted production and possession of videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of a minor child. Butler was also ordered to serve a 25-year term of supervised release.
A grand jury found the registered sex offender guilty in December 2021.
Recommended Videos
Butler was arrested at his mother’s home in Ortega in October 2018, where he had lived since he got out of jail on a probation violation. The FBI first questioned him in May when they served a warrant at a house on Old Kings Road South, where Butler lived with six other registered sex offenders.
At the time, he was not the target of an investigation, but he agreed to hand over his phone for the FBI to search.
Agents found pornographic videos of a minor child that appeared to have been filmed using a hidden camera. Further investigation revealed the identity of the child and the Jacksonville residence where the production had occurred.
In 2001, Butler was convicted of attempted capital sexual battery and lascivious molestation of minor children in Jacksonville, and since then he has been registered and designated as a sexual predator. He was released from prison in 2016.
The Department of Justice released this statement: This is another case 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 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.