JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 41-year-old Ponte Vedra Beach man was arrested this week by the FBI on charges of distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
According to the criminal complaint, an investigation that began a year ago in Wisconsin traced the source of internet videos showing children being sexually abused to George Thomas Griffiths Jr. Independently, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a user who updated videos containing possible child exploitation in the same time period.
Prosecutors said the source of the videos was traced to IP addresses at Griffiths’ Ponte Vedra Beach home and to the place where he worked as a radiology technician in Jacksonville.
On Nov. 20, agents served a search warrant at his home and seized his iPhone, which contained at least 2,000 images and at least 10 videos depicting child sexual abuse, according to court documents.
News4Jax went to Griffiths’ listed address Friday and spoke with his father, who answered the door.
“I wouldn’t believe it was him,” he said.
Griffiths was arrested Wednesday and faces a detention hearing on Friday. If he were convicted, he would face a minimum of five years in federal prison.