Jacksonville, Florida - Michael Douglas McNeil (30, Jacksonville) has been arrested and charged by federal criminal complaint with using the internet to attempt to entice a child to engage in sexual activity. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. McNeil is currently detained pending a detention hearing.
According to the, on Aug. 27, 2018, a detective with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, who was posing online as a family member of a 12-year-old deaf child, received a message on a social media application from McNeil, who identified himself as “Mark." McNeil expressed interest in having sex with the “child" and was advised that the “child" was 12 years old. Between August 27 and Aug. 30, 2018, McNeil and the undercover detective discussed plans for McNeil to meet the “child" for sex. McNeil asked for several photos of the “child," sent the undercover detective an explicit photo of himself, and asked specific questions about the “child’s" sexual experience and abilities. On Aug. 30, 2018, McNeil drove to a coffee shop in Orange Park to meet the “child" for sex and was arrested.
This case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. 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
