GAINESVILLE, Florida – A former physician completing his psychiatric residency has been sentenced to 90 months (seven and a half years) in federal prison for distributing child pornography, authorities announced.
Jesse Roger Armstrong, 35, of Gainesville, previously pleaded guilty to the charge. The sentence was handed down in U.S. District Court and announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
“Our state and federal law enforcement partners are committed to identifying, investigating, and rooting out the scourge of exploitation and sexual abuse of children online,” Heekin said in a statement. “My office will continue to back up those efforts with aggressive prosecutions of anyone found to be peddling in child sexual abuse material. Keeping our kids safe is the highest priority for my office, and it begins with sending predators like this defendant to prison.”
According to court documents, Armstrong knowingly uploaded images of child pornography to the internet while actively searching for more such material. Investigators from the Gainesville Police Department also discovered additional files of child pornography, as well as images involving sexual bestiality, on electronic devices seized from his residence.
At the time of the offenses, Armstrong was in the process of completing his residency in the psychiatric division at a local hospital affiliated with the University of Florida. He had been employed as a psychiatrist before his arrest earlier in 2025.
“Keeping our children safe online is a priority,” said Gainesville Police Chief Nelson Moya. “We will continue to pursue anyone who chooses to prey on our children via the internet.”
Nick Ingegno, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Tallahassee, emphasized the breach of trust involved. “HSI is committed to protecting children from exploitation, especially when offenders are in trusted roles like physicians,” Ingegno said. “Abusing that trust is unacceptable, and we will continue working with our partners to hold these individuals accountable and safeguard our communities.”
The investigation was a collaborative effort between the Gainesville Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Adam Hapner prosecuted the case.
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