A 31-year-old former Army staff sergeant has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempted enticement and coercion of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
Nicholas Christopher Carwise was also sentenced to 20 years of supervised release following his prison term.
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According to court documents, a St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office detective working with the Homeland Security Investigations Task Force posted to social media on May 12, 2022 and got a message from someone 8 miles away with the screenname “Vistor.”
During the detective’s conversation with “Vistor,” who was later identified as Carwise, “Vistor” quickly expressed a sexual interest in the detective’s fictitious persona, whom he believed to be a 13-year-old girl.
From May 14 through May 21, 2022, the detective and Carwise communicated through two social medial applications, and Carwise discussed meeting the “minor child” to have sex with her and offered her $200 to engage in sexual activity with him.
Law enforcement identified Carwise based on photos and information he had provided for his profiles for the two social media accounts. Further investigation revealed that Carwise had a home in Tennessee and that vehicles registered to him were located in and around St. Johns County from May 11 to May 15, 2022.
Law enforcement also learned that Carwise was likely in the military and contacted the Criminal Investigations Division for assistance. Law enforcement learned that Carwise was on active duty for the Army, had the rank of staff sergeant, and was working in Kentucky at the time.
Carwise was arrested on June 29, 2022, at Fort Benning, Georgia, and has been in custody since his arrest.
“Social media has made it easy for sexual predators to feed their illicit fantasies by targeting the innocence of children,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge K. Jim Phillips. “The Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, including the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, and with assistance from the Ft. Benning Criminal Investigation Division, made sure this soldier will no longer be able to entice and victimize our most vulnerable.”
This case was investigated by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Washington.
It is another case 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 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.