A former police officer in Florida has been sentenced after using social media to attempt to meet a 14-year-old girl.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Andrew Christian Hammock, 48, Boca Raton, to 18 years and 8 months in federal prison for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and for attempting to produce visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Hammock was also ordered to serve a 6-year term of supervised release, to register as a sex offender, and to forfeit the cellphone that he used to commit these offenses. When he committed these offenses, Hammock was serving as a police officer with the City of Margate (Florida) Police Department.
Hammock was found guilty by federal jury on June 25, 2021.
According to court documents, during February and March 2020, Hammock used a social media application to send more than 4,700 private online messages to an individual whom he believed was a 14-year-old girl but was actually an undercover FBI agent.
After learning her purported age, Hammock told the “child,” “bet you look amazing in a bikini,” and asked the “child” about her sexual experience. Hammock acknowledged the risk he was taking by talking to the “child,” telling her that he could get in trouble for talking to her because she is under 18 and he is not.
Hammock assured the “child” he was trustworthy and a protector and sent the “child” photos of himself wearing his police uniform.
He repeatedly told the “child” he was aroused talking to her and that he wanted to help the “child” have her first orgasm. Hammock also repeatedly requested the “child” to take and send him graphic photos of her genitals.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the City of Margate Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kelly S. Karase and Ashley Washington.
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