UNF student, 19, arrested on child porn charges

Neal Buckles solicited babysitting on Facebook, worked as child care provider

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A 19-year-old University of North Florida student from Ponte Vedra Beach was in court, Friday morning after he was arrested on child pornography charges Thursday afternoon.

According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, Neal Douglas Buckles is charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of transmission of child pornography.

He is being held on a $22,500 bond. He has been ordered to have no unsupervised contact with children and he is banned from internet access as a condition of his bond ($7,500 on each count).

Detectives with the Sheriff's Office Cyber Crimes Unit began an investigation a month ago after receiving a tip that Buckles had transmitted suspected child pornography, according to the Sheriff's Office.

"Of course, there was some investigative research that we did behind the scenes and we were able to obtain a search warrant, forensics were done," said Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan, SJCSO public information officer.

The investigation revealed that two images, depicting several young boys in sexual acts, had been uploaded from the IP address linked to Buckles' home, detectives said.

Buckles was taken into custody on the UNF campus Thursday morning and was brought in for questioning, according to the arrest report. 

Buckles admitted to investigators that he had shared the images with an "out-of-state associate," the arrest report said. 

According to Buckles' Facebook page, he is majoring in child psychology and secondary education at UNF.

News4Jax also discovered he had a "Buckles Babysitting" Facebook page and in the "About" section it's written, "I have been watching children for 8 years and am looking for more opportunities. I have a lot of references upon request. Hope to hear from families soon."

Mulligan said it's something that investigators are looking into. 

"There is a possibility that this is simply just the child pornography through the computer. But, of course, in an abundance of caution and due diligence, we certainly suggest that anyone who may have a concern contact a local law enforcement agency where their child may have had contact with him," Mulligan said. "Where did your child potentially have contact with him? Is there any concern or changes in behavior? Any comments, or pictures, anything that would lead you to believe that there was anything inappropriate? Then contact your local law-enforcement in that community because they have to investigate that particular issue."

Buckles was also working as a child care provider at Church of Eleven22, according to his Facebook page.

A woman at the church told News4Jax Thursday evening that they were aware of the situation and were doing their due diligence to discuss the charges and figure out what to do next. The church also said it's preparing a statement that it anticipates will be sent Friday morning. 

Mulligan said the SJCSO Cyber Crimes Unit has been catching these types of incidents more often lately.

"To the point of potential of one or two a month for the last several months. It's sporadic, of course, but we're seeing a pattern and a trend and our Cyber Crimes Unit is becoming very successful at locating these individuals though inner chat rooms, to chat with individuals they believe to be children and/or transmitting child pornography through the internet," Mulligan said.