Registered Sex Offender Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison for Exploitation Crime Against South Florida Minor

MIAMI – A federal district judge in Miami has imposed a 30-year prison sentence against an Ohio man who solicited sexually explicit images from a 14-year-old South Florida girl.

Adam Gino James Cotte, 36, met the minor victim on an internet messaging website. In August 2022, he communicated with her through social media, text messages, and video chats. During their exchanges, Cotte (located in Ohio) directed the 14-year-old girl (located in South Florida) to take and send him nude images of herself. In addition, Cotte instructed the victim to have her friend (also a 14-year-old child) record a video of herself masturbating. At the time of these illicit communications, Cotte was a registered sex offender and had been convicted in Ohio in 2020 of a state child exploitation crime. On Oct. 29, 2024, Cotte admitted to the illegal conduct, pleading guilty to one count of attempted production of visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

In addition to the 30-year prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom sentenced Cotte to a lifetime of supervised release after prison. He also will have to register as a sex offender. A restitution hearing is set for May 23, 2025.

U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida and Acting Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles of FBI Miami announced the sentence.

FBI Miami investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorneys Audrey Pence Tomanelli and Nardia Haye prosecuted 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.

You may find a copy of this press release (and any updates) on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl.

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-20150.

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