Jacksonville, Florida – Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced Timothy Wade Veres III (25, Jacksonville) to 10 years in federal prison for attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Veres has also been ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender. The Court ordered Veres to pay $5,000 in restitution to a child victim depicted in sexually explicit images he had possessed, which Veres agreed to pay as part of his plea agreement.
Veres had pleaded guilty on August 19, 2021.
According to court documents, in January 2020 federal and local law enforcement conducted a joint undercover operation targeting individuals who were seeking to meet minor children on the internet for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. On January 26, 2020, Veres used a particular chat application to make contact with an undercover federal agent who had assumed the online persona of a 13-year-old girl. During their online conversations, the “child” informed Veres of her age, and he discussed his desire to engage in sexual activity with the “child” when they met in person. Within five hours of first conversing with the “child” online, Veres traveled to meet the “child” for sex, where state and federal officers arrested him and found him in possession of condoms he had purchased on the way to the planned meeting location.
This case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Washington.
It 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.
Making sure that victims of federal crimes are treated with compassion, fairness and respect.