TAMPA, Fla. – A Florida man gifted two cell phone chargers with hidden cameras to a 12-year-old girl who FBI Special Agents reported he “isolated and groomed.”
A detective described the girl as “vulnerable” and a “recent immigrant from Eastern Europe.” This came to light after Yahoo detected an e-mail sent to Google e-mail “vladlover50@gmail.com” on Sept. 8, 2020. The evidence Yahoo gathered included child sex abuse images of girls ranging from 8 to 15 years old.
Recommended Videos
After an investigation, an indictment, and prosecution, a jury found Gregory A. Williamson guilty on March 13, of federal charges. FBI Tampa Acting Special Agent in Charge Rodney Crawford reacted on Friday after U.S. District Judge William F. Jung sentenced him.
“Life in prison will keep this depraved individual from hurting another child,” Crawford said in a statement.
Williamson, 59, was convicted of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, three counts of production of child sexual abuse material, three counts of distribution of child sexual abuse material, and possession of child sexual abuse material.
The case out took years. It started when a Yahoo employee alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about Williamson, known online as “Vlad Vlad,” of North Port, on Sept. 10, 2020, in compliance with federal law.
An NCMEC analyst sent the evidence to a law enforcement task force. Records show North Port Police Department Detective James Keller, a member of the task force, took on the case.
Keller applied for a search warrant for access to his e-mail account on Dec. 1, 2020, and later for another on Jan. 27, 2021, to search his house. Williamson was indicted on Nov. 3, 2021.
“Our special agents, task force officers, and analysts work these investigations with compassion and dogged determination to ensure the innocent are protected from predators,” Crawford said in the statement.
As Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erin Claire Favorit and Lindsey Schmidt prosecuted the case last year in Tampa, Williamson’s defense filed a motion to suppress the e-mail account evidence arguing that the search warrant had violated his Fourth Amendment rights.
The court later found that the search warrant was valid. Aside from the North Port Police Department, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office also assisted FBI Tampa with the investigation.