GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – A man in Rhode Island who solicited sexual abuse images from a Green Cove Springs girl is facing charges in the sextortion case and will be extradited to Florida to be prosecuted, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday.
Joined at the news conference by Green Cove Springs Police Chief Shawn Hines and Senior Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Emily Frazier, Uthmeier said 29-year-old Justin Adkins of West Warwick, Rhode Island, first met his young Green Cove Springs victim on the gaming app Fortnite.
He said they then moved to communicating on Snapchat and Roblox.
“Parents, people from other states are getting to your kids online and taking advantage of them. It can happen anywhere at any time,” Uthmeier warned.
WATCH: Full news conference below (NOTE: Includes details some might find triggering. Discretion is advised.)
Uthmeier began the news conference with a passionate warning for parents.
“Parents have to wake up! This is yet another day where we’re here to announce a predator that got to a minor young girl and took advantage of her online using social media applications,” Uthmeier said. “Parents, wake up! People at home are preying on your kids, they’re soliciting information, they are deviants, they want to do bad things, and you are the first line of defense.”
As part of the news conference, Uthmeier held up displays showing what each of the applications involved in the case looks like on a phone icon.
Uthmeier said abusers often prefer Snapchat because the images and text communications can be erased quickly, but said they have plenty of evidence against Adkins from his social media accounts.
“We’ve got thousands and thousands of files associated with this criminal deviant’s Snapchat account. Hundreds and hundreds of images of child sex abuse content, including many with this victim,” Uthmeier said.
He said that investigators learned Adkins used Robux through the app Roblox to buy the girl things and even sent her an iPhone “because he wanted better content in the imagery.”
“That’s how sick this dude was,” Uthmeier said.
He explained that once Adkins realized he might be losing control and wasn’t getting the responsiveness he wanted from the victim, he started making very serious threats.
Hines said a detective from Green Cove Springs Police Department and an FDLE agent traveled to Rhode Island and helped make the arrest on Feb. 2.
Uthemeier and the FDLE urged anyone else enduring similar threats to come forward because there are services in place to help, and Florida will prosecute sextortion threats.