JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mike Linkenauger, who was arrested on sexual battery charges in 2020, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.
Linkenauger was a real estate broker with an office in Bartram Park. He was active in several local churches and ran a ministry called Hot Dogs for Hope, where he fed and clothed the homeless.
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The case bogged down during the pandemic, and Linkenauger was representing himself, right up to the time of trial last month, when he told the judge he did want a lawyer appointed. He was convicted on five counts of sexual battery and two counts of lewd & lascivious molestation.
The jury’s verdict was returned after 2.5 hours of deliberations.
In 2020, detectives with the Special Assault Unit had obtained an arrest warrant charging Linkenauger with sexual battery, lewd or lascivious exhibition, and lewd or lascivious conduct involving a child.
According to the arrest report, it was church members had alerted police that Linkenauger had forced sex on the boy numerous times between August 2017 and June 2019. Officers said Linkenauger befriended the boy and his mother at the church and that he had taken the boy out of town on golf trips and invited the victim to spend nights at his home.