Tony Leroy Bartley, Jr., a 38-year-old from Jacksonville, was sentenced on Apr. 22 to ten years in federal prison for using the internet in an attempt to entice a 13-year-old child into sexual activity. United States District Judge Jordan E. Pratt also ordered Bartley to serve a ten-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender. The sentencing follows Bartley's guilty plea entered on January 27.
Bartley was employed as a pre-kindergarten teacher at a school in Ponte Vedra Beach at the time of his arrest. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the sentence.
Court documents show that an undercover FBI agent conducted an online operation through a social media application aimed at identifying adults seeking sexual contact with minors. In late July 2025, Bartley, using the screen name "keven," exchanged private messages with the agent posing as a child and suggested engaging in sexual acts after being told the "child" was only thirteen years old. He also sent explicit descriptions and photos during these exchanges.
Bartley was arrested by FBI agents on August 5, 2025. During questioning, he admitted communicating online with someone he believed was underage and discussing sexual acts with her, saying: “I should have stopped at 13 [years-old], and that’s on me.” He further acknowledged sending explicit images, adding: “I’m going away for a long time.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office investigated this case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative started by the Department of Justice in 2006 to address child sexual exploitation and abuse nationwide by coordinating federal, state, and local resources.
