JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A former St. Augustine eighth-grade teacher was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after he tried to meet a teenager, who was actually an undercover agent, for sex, according to the Department of Justice.
In August 2025, 31-year-old Christopher Yates pleaded guilty to attempting to entice and use a 14-year-old child to produce a sexual abuse video.
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On Feb. 11, 2022, an undercover Jacksonville FBI agent, who was posing online as a 14-year-old child, responded to an online notice on a social media application posted by the user “English teacher,” who was later identified as Yates.
According to officials, the notice read, “Any women want to be rated by a teacher?”
During the online conversation, the “child” said that “she” was 14 years old and in eighth grade, and Yates said that he was a teacher, and asked, “[e]ver fantasize about a teacher?” Then, Yates and the “child” exchanged photos, and Yates said, “I bet you look hot in a bikini.”
Between Feb. 22 and March 11, 2022, Yates and the “child” exchanged more text messages, and Yates sent the “child” several photos, including some that were sexually explicit.
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On March 8, 2022, Yates asked the “child” to meet in person, and he detailed the specific sexual acts that he intended to perform on the “child” when they met.
Two days later, Yates and the “child” confirmed plans to meet, and Yates asked the “child” if “she” wanted to video-record their planned sexual activity so that the “child” “could remember it even better.” Yates told the “child” that he could use his cellphone to record their sexual activity and that he would later delete the video so that no one would see it.
On March 11, 2022, Yates drove to a prearranged location in Jacksonville to meet the “child” for sex and was arrested by FBI agents.
According to officials, a search revealed that Yates had brought several condoms and a cellphone with him.
During an interview, Yates admitted that he was going to meet a 14-year-old girl that he had met online and that he intended to have sex with “her.” When asked if he was going to have sex with the 14-year-old girl and record it on video, Yates said, “I said if that’s what she wanted, that we could,” and “I did just want to leave it up to her.”
He admitted that it was his idea to make a video of his sexual encounter with the “child,” officials said.
At the time of his arrest, Yates was employed as an eighth-grade teacher at a school in St. Augustine.
According to an 82-page criminal complaint, Yates worked at the Veritas Classical School in St. Augustine, a classical Christian school that teaches kindergarten through 10th grade.