Jacksonville, Florida – Mark Wesley Schmit (50,
Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography. He faces a
minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years, and up to 20 years, in federal prison and
a potential life term of supervised release.
According to court documents, during the course of the
investigation of an unrelated child exploitation case, the FBI learned that an
individual had exchanged a series of text messages with Schmit on July 24,
2017. During that conversation, the individual sent several pornographic videos
to Schmit, claiming that they depicted his 13-year-old sister. In response,
Schmit requested that the individual send him additional graphic sexual videos
of the purported child. Schmit then sent an image to the individual depicting
an adult male sexually assaulting a young girl.
On April 16, 2019, FBI agents arrested Schmit pursuant to a
federal arrest warrant. During an interview, Schmit admitted to sending and
receiving child pornography, and that he had a sexual interest in looking at
images of underage girls. Schmit also
admitted that he had engaged in online conversations with underage girls, while
purporting to be a teenage boy, and solicited sexual images of the girls.
Forensic analysis of Schmit’s cellphone revealed that it contained at least
five images depicting the sexual abuse of young children.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (Jacksonville Office). It is being prosecuted by Assistant United
States Attorney David B. Mesrobian.
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