October 21, 2008
For more information contact:
Supervisory AUSA Karen Rhew
(850) 942-8430
TALLAHASSEE MAN SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR
INTERNET ENTICEMENT, POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
Tallahassee, Florida – Thomas F. Kirwin, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced that on October 20, 2008, CHARLES S. FARIS, III, 54, was sentenced to 292 months in federal prison for on-line enticement of minors for sex and possession of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2252A, and 2422(b) . Following a jury trial that concluded on June 17, 2008, FARIS was found guilty on two counts of attempting to persuade an individual who had not attained the age of 18 to engage in illegal sexual activity. FARIS had earlier pled guilty to the offense of possession of child pornography charged in the same case.
Evidence introduced at the two-day jury trial before The Honorable Stephan P. Mickle, showed that in October 2007, Faris engaged in a series of internet chats and telephone calls with an undercover Tallahassee Police Investigator posing as a mother of seven and eleven year old girls. During the course of the chats, Faris described sexual contact that he wanted to have with two girls and made arrangements with the “mother” to meet her and the children for this purpose. On October 5, 2008, Faris drove to a residence in Tallahassee where the undercover investigator was waiting. When he arrived, Faris was carrying a bottle of wine and two bouquets of flowers. When the undercover investigator, still posing as the mother, met him at the door, Faris held up the wine and flowers saying, “Wine for the Mom, flowers for the girls.” He was arrested seconds later.
This prosecution was the result of an undercover investigation launched by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, in partnership with state, federal, and local agencies, and intended to bring to justice individuals who use the Internet to target children for sex. The Florida Office of the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Tallahassee Police Department, Leon County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the State Attorney’s Office (2nd Judicial Circuit), and the Florida Highway Patrol, participated in the investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert O. Davis.