OCALA, FL — A 57-year-old registered sex offender who brazenly told an undercover detective that he was “grooming” them has been sentenced to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole.
Trevor Hedge, of Ocala, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber following his conviction by a federal jury on March 3, 2026. The life sentence addresses dual federal counts: attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and committing a felony offense involving a minor as a registered sex offender.
Cyber-Sting Snargs Repeat Predator
The investigation dates back to May 2025, during a proactive cyber-crime initiative hosted by the Ocala Police Department to intercept internet-based child predators.
During the operation, a detective with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office acted as an undercover decoy, creating an online profile posing as a neglected 13-year-old child. Hedge initiated contact with the profile and, despite explicitly learning the decoy’s young age, continuously escalated the conversation into graphic, sexually explicit territory.
Court documents reveal that during the text exchanges, Hedge openly described his “addiction” to sexual activity with minors and explicitly stated to the undercover detective that he was “grooming” her.
Arrest at Staging Site
On May 22, 2025, believing he had successfully manipulated a vulnerable child, Hedge finalized logistics to meet the 13-year-old for a physical sexual encounter.
He drove to the predetermined pickup location, where surveillance and containment teams from the Ocala Police Department were waiting. Hedge was swarmed and arrested on-site without incident.
The subsequent investigation by local police, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI revealed that Hedge was already a documented sex offender, having been convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a minor in 1993.