Crawfordville Man Sentenced to Ten Years in Federal Prison for Child Exploitation Crimes

Tallahassee, Florida – Anthony Wayne Lanier, 33, of Crawfordville, Florida was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after previously pleading guilty to Attempted Enticement of a Minor and Attempted Transmission of Obscene Material to a Minor. The sentence was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “This case demonstrates the kinds of threats our kids face online from predators, like this defendant, who seek to sexually exploit and victimize them. Thankfully, our excellent state and federal law enforcement officers are committed to tracking down those offenders wherever they lurk, and my office is aggressively prosecuting these cases to keep them locked behind bars and away from our kids.”

Court documents reflect that on November 20, 2025, the defendant communicated online with an individual he believed to be a child, but was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. The defendant repeatedly asked the child to send inappropriate photos, asked to commit sexual acts on the child and her friend, and sent a picture of his genitalia. The defendant then drove to an agreed upon location where he believed he would be meeting the child, but he was instead arrested by law enforcement upon arriving. Once he is released from prison, Lanier will be on supervised release for a twenty-year term.

The conviction and sentence were the result of a joint investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Tallahassee Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Meredith L. Steer.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. 

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl.