Former Margate Police Officer Sentenced To More Than 18 Years For Attempting To Entice A 14-Year-Old Child To Engage In Sexual Activity And For Soliciting Production Of Child Sex Abuse Images

DOJ Press

Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Andrew Christian Hammock (48, Boca Raton) to 18 years and 8 months in federal prison for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and for attempting to produce visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Hammock was also ordered to serve a 6-year term of supervised release, to register as a sex offender, and to forfeit the cellphone that he used to commit these offenses. When he committed these offenses, Hammock was serving as a police officer with the City of Margate (Florida) Police Department. 

Hammock was found guilty by federal jury on June 25, 2021.

According to court documents, during February and March 2020, Hammock used a social media application to send more than 4,700 private online messages to an individual whom he believed was a 14-year-old girl but was actually an undercover FBI agent. After learning her purported age, Hammock told the “child,” “bet you look amazing in a bikini,” and asked the “child” about her sexual experience. Hammock acknowledged the risk he was taking by talking to the “child,” telling her that he could get in trouble for talking to her because she is under 18 and he is not.

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Hammock assured the “child” he was trustworthy and a protector and sent the “child” photos of himself wearing his police uniform. He repeatedly told the “child” he was aroused talking to her and that he wanted to help the “child” have her first orgasm. Hammock also repeatedly requested the “child” to take and send him graphic photos of her genitals. 


This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the City of Margate Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kelly S. Karase and Ashley Washington.


This is another case 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.

 

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