Jacksonville sexual predator sentenced to 16 years in federal prison

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Dennis William Sheffield, Jr., 52, was sentenced to 16 years and 3 months in federal prison for receipt of child sex abuse materials.

According to the Department of Justice, Sheffield was also ordered to serve a life term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender. In addition, he was ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to victims of his offenses. Sheffield had pleaded guilty on December 16, 2022.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

According to the plea agreement, in February 2022, Homeland Security Investigations began investigating Sheffield in response to a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The CyberTip indicated that child sex abuse material had been uploaded to a search engine. An IP address for the individual who had uploaded the materials was traced to Sheffield and law enforcement learned that Sheffield was listed as a predator on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Sexual Offenders and Predators registry because of two convictions in 1996 of attempted sexual battery on a child under 12 years old.

Read: FHP finds, arrests driver who they say ran over, killed motorcyclist on Beach Blvd. in Jacksonville

On March 3, 2022, based on the CyberTip and identification of Sheffield as the subject, law enforcement obtained a federal search warrant for Sheffield’s residence. The following day, authorities executed the search warrant and encountered Sheffield, who was holding a phone in his hand. A preliminary examination of the cellphone revealed multiple files of child sex abuse materials on the phone.

Sheffield admitted to having a problem and that he liked looking at child sex abuse images, which he admitted to having viewed as recently as a couple of days earlier. Sheffield also admitted to saving some of the images on his phone.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

Read: Five people arrested after a reported fight at Circle K

Read: 12 hurt when passenger opens aircraft door midflight; plane lands safely

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.