Volusia County Man Indicted For Attempting To Entice A 13-Year-Old To Produce Child Sexual Abuse Photos

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment charging Shane Christopher Abrams (36, Deland) with attempting to entice a 13-year-old to produce and send him photos depicting child sexual abuse. If convicted, Abrams faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison. He also faces a potential lifetime of supervised release. On May 20, 2024, Abrams was arrested by FBI agents at his place of employment in South Daytona.  

According to court documents, on April 3, 2024, an undercover FBI agent posing as a 13-year-old child engaged in text conversation on a particular online social media application with a user named “Malicious_Malediction,” who was subsequently identified as Abrams. During this conversation, the “child” advised that “she” was 13 years old, and Abrams asked “her” questions about her body and discussed masturbation. The next day, Abrams provided the “child” with his cellphone number, and their conversation continued by text messaging. Between April 4 and April 20, 2024, Abrams and the “child” exchanged numerous text messages, and Abrams sent the “child” several explicit photos that he claimed were of himself. On several occasions during their text conversation, Abrams asked the “child” to produce and send him by text message explicit photos of “herself.” Abrams also gave the “child” specific and sexually explicit instructions regarding exactly how to comply with his request.  

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

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.    

It is another 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 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.