A former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Detective pleaded guilty Tuesday to enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
Josue Garriga III, 34, St. Augustine, faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. Following his release from prison, Garriga will be required to register as a sex offender and serve a term of supervised release of at least five years. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, Garriga, who at the time was a detective with the gang unit of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO), met the minor victim, who was 17 years old, at church in 2023. Garriga pursued a sexual relationship with the child victim until approximately March 7, 2024.
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This included reaching up the child victim’s skirt while she worked serving coffee before church service. At some point, Garriga used his JSO-issued cell phone and an undercover Instagram account to reach out to the child victim and obtain her phone number.
Garriga then used his personal cell phone to communicate with the child victim, directing their messages to an end-to-end encrypted app set to delete the messages after 24 hours automatically.
Garriga requested nude photos from the child victim and sent her nude photos of himself. Garriga also video-chatted with the child victim over FaceTime more than 120 times, including when the child victim showered. On one occasion, Garriga requested that the child victim livestream herself masturbating.
On at least two occasions, Garriga used his JSO work vehicle to travel to the child victim’s neighborhood in Clay County to meet with the minor victim and engage in sexual contact that was illegal under Florida law.
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On another occasion, Garriga met with the child victim at a coffee shop in Clay County and enticed her to his JSO work vehicle, where he engaged in unlawful sexual activity with the child victim and refused to let her leave until she performed oral sex on him.
The Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force investigated this case, which includes Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Laura Cofer Taylor and Kelly S. Milliron are prosecuting it.
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