Jacksonville, Florida - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces today that a federal jury has found Russel Lee Orr (41, Trinity) guilty of attempted online enticement of a child to engage in sexual activity, attempted production of child pornography, and eight counts of advertising for child pornography. On the attempted enticement count, Orr faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years’, up to life, imprisonment. He faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison for the attempted production charge and for each of the advertising charges. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25, 2016.
According to evidence presented at trial, from March 10, 2015, through May 20, 2015, Orr engaged in a series of text message and email conversations with an individual he believed to be a 14-year old girl. The "child" was actually a detective with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. During the course of the conversations, Orr discussed in detail his desire to meet the “child" for sex. He also repeatedly solicited the “child" to produce and send pornographic pictures of her genitalia to him.
On May 21, 2015, FBI agents and other law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at Orr’s apartment and arrested him. During the search of the home, the agents located and seized a smart phone that Orr had used to communicate with the “child" and also to search the Internet for materials related to the sexual exploitation of children.
This case was investigated by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville and Tampa. 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 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
