A Ponte Vedra Beach man was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for the distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
According to the criminal complaint, an investigation that began in 2020 in Wisconsin traced the source of internet videos showing children being sexually abused to George Thomas Griffiths Jr., 43, Independently, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a user who updated videos containing possible child exploitation in the same time period.
Griffiths pleaded guilty to the charges on May 27, 2022.
Prosecutors said the source of the videos was traced to IP addresses at Griffiths’ Ponte Vedra Beach home and to the place where he worked as a radiology technician in Jacksonville.
On Nov. 19, 2020, agents served a search warrant at his home and seized his iPhone, which contained at least 2,000 images and at least 10 videos depicting child sexual abuse, according to court documents.
The 43-year-old was also ordered to serve a 15-year term of supervised release, forfeit his smartphone, and register as a sex offender.