JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An Orange Park man will spend 27 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release after being convicted of possessing images and videos of child sexual abuse.
Robert Lee Martin, 66, was sentenced after pleading guilty on Feb. 6, 2020, according to a news release Thursday from the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to court documents, special agents from Homeland Security Investigations carried out a search warrant at Martin's home in November of 2018 after they received a tip that an image depicting child sexual abuse had been uploaded from Martin's home internet. Martin told HSI agents that he has a problem and that he has been "fighting it forever," the release says.
Martin told the agents that he kept a laptop at his friend's house that he uses to view the child exploitation images and videos. Agents seized the computer and conducted a forensic examination, revealing it contained more than 700 pictures and eight videos showing minors being sexually abused, including "very young children," according to the release.
The Clay County Sheriff's Office assisted HSI in the investigation.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the "growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse," the release says. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, click here.
