Gainesville man sentenced to more than 10 years for child pornography charges

A Gainesville man was sentenced to 121 months in prison for receipt/attempted receipt of child pornography on Monday.

According to a Northern District of Florida U.S. Attorney’s Office press release,  acting U.S. Attorney for the North for the Northern District of Florida, Michelle Spaven, announced the sentence for 58-year-old Stephen Christoper Young.

Young was ordered to pay $20,500 in restitution, and once released from prison, he will spend the rest of his life on supervised release. Young is required to register as a sex offender and will be subject to all sex offender conditions.

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Stephen Christopher Young
Courtesy of Alachua County Jail Stephen Christopher Young

“Crimes against children are unacceptable,” said Spaven in the press release. “Those who seek to view and maintain child pornography facilitate the abuse of children by those who produce and profit from this illegal content. We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to ensure that we aggressively prosecute these offenders.”

In March 2024, a federal search warrant was executed by investigators at Young’s residence, where they discovered Young had been exchanging child pornography with others. He used various applications intended to avoid detection by using end-to-end encryption.

“It’s crucial to prioritize the protection of children from sexual abuse,” said Alachua County Sheriff Chad Scott in the press release.

The case was investigated by the Gainesville Police Department’s Internet Crime Against Children Task Force, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Meredith Steer and Adam Hapner prosecuted the case.

“This case is another example of the FBI’s relentless commitment to protecting children by removing predators from our community,” said Jason Carley, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville, in the press release. “Let this be a lesson to others who prey on vulnerable kids; the FBI and our partners will never stop working to identify, pursue, and hold child predators accountable.”

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