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Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Jimmie Dwight Whitfield (43, Atlantic Beach) to 37 months in federal prison for failing to register as a sex offender after absconding from supervision in Georgia and establishing residence in Florida. Whitfield was also sentenced to a 5-year term of supervised release and required to register as a sex offender. He has been in custody since his arrest on October 25, 2018.
According to court documents, in 1995, Whitfield was convicted of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old child in Jacksonville. In 2006, he was convicted of sexual battery and sodomy against a mentally challenged adult in Valdosta, Georgia. Following his release from prison, Whitfield resided at a motel in Valdosta while serving a term of supervised probation. In March 2018, he cut off his ankle monitor, fled to Florida, and established a residence in Atlantic Beach. Whitfield failed to register as a sex offender in Florida as required by federal and state law. On October 25, 2018, he was arrested at his home in Atlantic Beach for violating his probation. During an interview with law enforcement, he admitted that he had cut off his ankle monitor and that he knew he was not allowed to leave Georgia without permission.
The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act is part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. The Adam Walsh Act also provides for the use of federal law enforcement resources, including the United States Marshals Service, to assist state and local authorities in locating and apprehending non-compliant sex offenders.
This case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service, the Lowndes County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
This is another case 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.