St. Johns County man arrested for soliciting CCSO ‘girl’ for sex

JACKSONVILLE – Chief U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard sentenced Chad Michael Sadlowski, 34, to 11 years and three months in federal prison for attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Sadlowski was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty last October.  

According to court records, from April 25 through April 28, an undercover detective with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office posed online on a messaging application as the uncle of an 8-year-old female “child.” Sadlowski engaged the undercover in a variety of sexually explicit messages and expressed a desire to have sex with the “child.”

Sadlowski agreed to meet at a local gas station to engage in sex before him going to work as a respiratory therapist at a local hospital. Sadlowski was arrested as he was traveling to the gas station and was in his hospital scrubs when he was taken into custody. After his arrest, Sadlowski admitted to traveling to meet the “child” for sex. In addition, he also admitted to talking to minors on the application by asking them for sexually explicit photos and videos. After obtaining a search warrant, investigators searched Sadlowski’s phone and found additional child exploitation materials in his possession.

“This investigation highlights the ever-present threat for children online, and this predator’s reprehensible actions demonstrate a coldhearted disregard for the life and well-being of a child,” said Tim Hemker, Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge. “HSI, alongside our partners with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the rest of Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, are committed to protecting our children from harm.”     

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, CCSO, JSO and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cannizzaro was prosecuting this case.

This 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 U.S. Attorney’s 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, visit justice.gov/psc.