JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — *The above video was originally published following Butler's arrest is October 2018.
A Jacksonville man will be spending the next 35 years inside of a federal prison after he was sentenced Thursday for child sex crimes. James Thomas Butler II was convicted of production, attempted production, and possession of videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of a minor child. Butler, 41, was also ordered to serve a 25-year term of supervised release.
Butler was arrested in October 2018 after his home in Ortega was raided.
Butler, a registered sex offender, was convicted in 2001 of attempted capital sexual battery and lascivious molestation of minor children in Jacksonville.
According to court documents and evidence and testimony admitted during the trial, on May 2, 2018, FBI agents and other law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at a residence in Jacksonville where Butler and several other registered sex offenders lived, a news release states.
During an interview with law enforcement, FBI agents obtained a smart phone from Butler. A forensic examination of Butler’s smart phone revealed that it contained sexually explicit videos and images of a minor child that appeared to have been filmed using a camera concealed in a bedroom, the news release states. Investigators were able to identify this child as well as the residence located in north Florida where the camera was concealed. On October 2, 2018, FBI agents and personnel executed a federal search warrant at this residence and discovered that Butler had installed a tiny internet-enabled camera device in an air vent in the child’s bedroom, the news release states. Butler had wired this hidden camera into the home's electrical system through the attic and was able to control this camera remotely over the internet using an app on his smart phone, collecting videos, and creating customized, lascivious screenshots of the child, the news release states. A forensic review of Butler’s smart phone revealed that it contained at least 65 videos and 35 screenshots that depicted the child in various stages of undress.
