Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment charging Amol Chandrashekhar Khedkar (58, Jacksonville) with using his cellphone and the internet to attempt to entice a minor child to engage in sexual activity. Khedkar faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years and up to life in federal prison. Khedkar was arrested by FBI agents on November 29, 2023, in St. Johns County. On December 5, 2023, he appeared in federal court in Jacksonville and was ordered detained pending trial.
According to court documents and evidence discussed in open court, on November 28, 2023, an undercover FBI agent in Jacksonville was conducting an online undercover operation to identify adults who were seeking to make contact with and engage in sexual activity with children. Posing as the parent of an 11-year-old child, the undercover agent posted a notice in a public chat room of a particular online social messaging app. Minutes later, an individual using the app name “drbrownee,” who was subsequently identified as Khedkar, contacted the undercover agent using a private messaging feature of the app. After being advised of the “child’s” age, Khedkar confirmed that he would “love to see the ‘child.’” He asked the undercover agent a number of specific questions about access to the “child” and the “child’s” sexual experience. Khedkar and the undercover agent discussed meeting in person the next day at the “child’s” residence.
On November 29, 2023, Khedkar and the undercover agent exchanged text messages and confirmed that they would meet later that day at the predetermined location in St. Johns County. When Khedkar arrived at the location, he was arrested by FBI agents.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 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 child victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.