Alachua County Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Transfer Obscene Material to a Minor

Ocala, Florida – Joseph Stephen Branton (56, High Springs) has pleaded guilty to attempting to transfer obscene material to a minor. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. The sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement. 

According to court documents, while working in Haiti in July 2025, Branton began chatting online with an individual whom he believed to be a 14 to 15-year-old girl. That “minor” was actually an undercover special agent with Homeland Security Investigations. During their communications, Branton engaged in a sexually explicit conversation with the minor. On September 3, 2025, Branton sent a sexually explicit photograph of himself to the minor. 

Branton was arrested on January 28, 2026. He remains detained pending the resolution of the case. 

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg. 

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.