ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A 19-year-old University of North Florida student arrested on child pornography charges Thursday solicited babysitting on Facebook and worked as a child care provider at a Jacksonville church.
According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, Neal Douglas Buckles of Ponte Vedra Beach is charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of transmission of child pornography.
At a hearing Friday morning, a judge ordered Buckles to have no unsupervised contact with children and he is banned from internet access as a condition of his bond, which was set at $22,500.
The state attorney's office wanted the judge to take note, before setting bond, that Buckles' has a Facebook page advertising babysitting services.
Buckles bonded out of the St. Johns County Jail just before noon Friday, according to court records.
News4Jax spoke Friday with a young woman who said she worked at Church of Eleven 22 on Beach Boulevard with Buckles and has known him for years.
The woman, who did not wish to be identified, said she and Buckles would look after children while church services were being held.
"Changing kids' diapers, man being alone in the room, that is something you're not allowed to do if you're a male. He was usually, like, kind of did not take that direction well," she said. "He was, like, a little socially awkward. But he was never anything really to worry about. It was nice, he said 'hi' to everyone."
The woman said there were no incidents that she was aware of but she said she's still concerned after hearing the charges that Buckles faces.
"It was, just, a concern to think of how many children he could have possibly gotten into contact with," the woman said.
The Church of Eleven22 released a statement Friday afternoon on the arrest of Buckles, who had worked as a volunteers before he became a part-time staff member. According to the church, Buckles resigned from his part-time position last month.
VIEW: Statement issued by Church of Eleven22
Buckles' father, who is an elder at The Church of Eleven22, will be stepping down from his duties as an Elder Board member so he can "devote his full attention to the needs of his family," the church said in the statement.
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.
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.
According to the arrest report, Buckles was taken into custody on the UNF campus Thursday morning and was brought in for questioning.
Buckles admitted to investigators that he had shared the images with an "out-of-state associate," the arrest report said.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith explained what investigators look into after receiving a tip.
"They do some monitoring on the websites, some chat rooms, to see what people are saying. Sometimes they do work on tips. But what helps if they get a tip, and that person has a profile set up on, like, Facebook, they can go in and monitor what they're saying," Smith said.
Smith added that anyone hiring a babysitter online should do a background check.
According to the Sheriff's Office, there have been no reports of any child abuse or molestation. Detectives continue to investigate.
The Department of Children and Families told News4Jax Friday that it is aware of the allegations and is investigating as well.