SANFORD, FL — A 23-year-old Orlando man has been sentenced to five years in state prison followed by three years of sex offender probation after being convicted at trial of traveling to meet a minor for sex, prosecutors announced.
Elesen Alexis was sentenced on Friday, July 24, 2026, by Seminole County Circuit Judge Michael Rudisill. A jury previously found Alexis guilty in May 2026 following a trial prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Sarah Mian and Rich Coln.
In Florida, unlawful travel to meet a minor is a second-degree felony, frequently utilized by law enforcement task forces to intercept sex offenders before physical contact with a child occurs.
Undercover Operation Intercepts Target
The criminal investigation began in April 2025 when undercover deputies with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, posing online as a 14-year-old girl named “Ashley,” connected with Alexis through a mobile application.
During the trial, prosecutors presented more than 130 text messages exchanged between Alexis and the undercover deputies.
Investigators testified that despite initial contact occurring on a platform, Alexis explicitly acknowledged the girl’s age as 14 in the text stream. The digital records further detailed Alexis describing explicit sexual acts before driving to a pre-arranged meeting location in Altamonte Springs, where deputies took him into custody.
Defense Entrapment Claim Rejected by Jury
In court, defense counsel argued that Alexis was a victim of entrapment because he initially met the fictitious minor on a dating application that requires registered users to be at least 18 years old.
Prosecutors countered by pointing directly to the transcript of over 130 messages, demonstrating that Alexis was repeatedly informed of the child’s true age and chose to pursue the illicit meeting regardless. The jury rejected the defense’s entrapment argument, returning a guilty verdict on the second-degree felony charge.
Sentencing Details: Judge Rudisill’s order of five years in state prison followed by three years of sex offender probation aligns with Florida’s criminal punishment code guidelines for second-degree felony convictions of this nature.