JACKSONVILLE – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Carl Stephen Smith Jr., 33, of Green Cove Springs, pleaded guilty to distributing child sexual abuse materials using the internet. In federal prison, Smith faces a minimum mandatory penalty of five years, up to 20 years. Smith was arrested on Jan. 31 and has been in jail since.

According to court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTipline report in July 2022 from an online social media application indicating three child sexual abuse videos had been uploaded on the app by a user named “daddysir142.” The internet protocol address used to upload the materials was traced to an internet service provider in Green Cove Springs. An investigation by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office revealed numerous other CyberTipline reports submitted by online social media apps for IP addresses linked to Smith and his residence.

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations and other law enforcement personnel executed a federal search warrant on Jan. 31 at Smith’s residence. During an interview with law enforcement, Smith admitted that he communicated with minors on social media and that he used social media apps to search for child sexual abuse materials.

HSI agents seized a cellphone belonging to Smith. A forensic review of this device revealed it contained at least 22 videos and 37 photos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The device contained online conversations between Smith and other users in which Smith distributed materials depicting the sexual abuse of young children.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Rodney Brown is prosecuting it.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. 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 child victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit justice.gov/psc.