JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The charges against a former Clay County deputy accused of having sex with a teenager continue to mount.
U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announced Wednesday that Travis Pritchard now faces federal charges of online enticement of a minor and attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. If convicted on these charges, Pritchard faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years and up to life, in federal prison.
Recommended Videos
Earlier this month, the Green Cove Springs Police Department arrested the 36-year-old deputy assigned to Clay County’s DUI unit and charged him with lewd battery on a minor after a 15-year-old victim’s mother told police Pritchard had been sneaking into her home late at night to have sex with her daughter.
The Sheriff’s Office fired Pritchard the next day.
The Green Cove Springs Police Department said there could be other victims and they are actively working leads in the case.
According to the federal criminal complaint, Pritchard used an online chat application to communicate with the 15-year-old, with whom he had engaged in sexual activity on a weekly basis.
On April 29, an undercover Green Cove Springs detective assumed the child’s identity and continued chatting with Pritchard using the online chat application. According to court records, late the night of May 1 and into the early morning hours of the next day, Pritchard encouraged the “child” to sneak out of her home to meet with him for a “quickie.” Police said that In anticipation of their meeting, he sent the “child” a photograph of himself from the waist down, wearing only boxer shorts.
Police said that about 2 a.m. on May 2, Pritchard arrived near the child’s home to pick her up in his patrol vehicle and sent the “child” a message saying, “I’m here.” A short time later, Pritchard was arrested by Green Cove Springs police.
Pritchard once let a gas station employee put his patrol baton down her pants during a romantic encounter while he was on duty, according to a discipline history obtained by News4Jax.
A look at Pritchard's disciplinary file shows that in 2013, he was seen kissing an employee at the Hess Express Mart gas station on U.S. 17 in Green Cove Springs while he was in uniform and on duty. The person who filed the complaint said the employee went into the store with Pritchard's patrol baton and could be seen playing with it before she put the baton in her pants.
A year later, Pritchard was disciplined by the Clay County Sheriff's Office after his AR-15 service rifle accidentally discharged in his home. The complaint said Pritchard “discharged a live round inside of his residence while checking if the ammunition was removed” during a cleaning.
In 2016, a Middleburg citizen complained that Pritchard appeared to be “racing southbound on Discovery Road with a black pick-up truck.”
The Sheriff's Office investigated and found the driver he appeared to have been racing was a female police recruit he had a personal relationship with. He said he was tutoring her as she went through the academy.
The Sheriff’s Office disciplined Pritchard for speeding and for getting into a heated confrontation with the man who complained.