Jacksonville Man Indicted for Using Minors to Produce Child Pornography

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces today the return of an indictment charging Thomas Leslie Carr (48, Jacksonville) with two counts of producing child pornography. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum penalty 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison on each charge. Carr was arrested at his home today by federal agents. His arraignment and detention hearing are scheduled for August 30, 2016, at 10:00 a.m.       

This case was investigated by the Lakeland Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Tampa and Jacksonville offices. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It 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 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.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.