Fort Pierce Jury convicts a Louisiana Registered Sex Offender of Various Internet Sex Crimes Involving a Martin County Minor

MIAMI – On May 20, a federal jury sitting in Fort Pierce, Florida convicted Nicolas James Palmisano, 45, of Destrehan, Louisiana, for attempted enticement of a minor, attempted production of visual depictions involving sexual exploitation of a minor, receipt of visual depictions involving sexual exploitation of a minor, transfer of obscene material to a minor, and offense by a registered sex offender.

According to court records and evidence introduced during trial, in 2019, Palmisano was convicted in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana for sexual offenses involving a juvenile. Upon the completion of his four-year prison sentence, Palmisano registered as a sex offender with the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office in the town in which he resided.

In May 2024, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) learned that a minor had images of sexually explicit activity on her cellular phone. An MCSO computer forensic examiner recovered messages, images, and recordings from the minor’s cellular phone that were sent from Palmisano’s cellular number. Despite acknowledging that the minor was 15 years old, Palmisano wrote thousands of sexually explicit messages and sent multiple sexually explicit images, as well as audio and video recordings, of himself between February 22 and May 6, 2024. Palmisano also solicited, and obtained, sexually explicit images from the minor.

In August 2024, members of the FBI and MCSO arrested Palmisano at the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, after he arrived for his annual Sexual Offender Registration review and update. Law enforcement executed a search warrant on Palmisano’s residence and recovered his cellular phone, which was found to contain the sexually explicit material that Palmisano and the minor exchanged.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 25, before U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez. Palmisano faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years up to life in prison, and up to a lifetime of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida, acting Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of FBI Miami, and Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek made the announcement. 

FBI Fort Pierce investigated the case, with assistance from MCSO, FBI New Orleans, and St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office. 

Fort Pierce Branch Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Lineberger and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Kahn Obenauf are prosecuting the case.

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. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood 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.

Anyone with information relating to child sexual exploitation or abuse is encouraged to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 24-cr-14044.

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