Florida Sex Offender Indicted For Distribution Of Child Sexual Abuse Material

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the arrest of Nicholes Scott Newman (42, Hilliard) on an indictment charging him with distribution of child sexual abuse materials. If convicted, Newman faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years, up to 40 years, in federal prison.

According to court records, in June 2024, an undercover detective from a Texas law enforcement agency visited an online messaging application and posed as a 28-year female with an 8-year-old daughter. Newman introduced himself to the undercover by saying, “42 year old male, looking to breed.” Newman engaged in sexually explicit conversations regarding children and sent the undercover detective multiple videos of child exploitation material. Newman is a convicted sex offender out of Pinellas County, where he was sentenced to more than six years in Florida State Prison after he was convicted on 20 counts of possession of child pornography.    

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Cannizzaro.

This case was 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 Attorney’s 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.