Federal Jury Convicts Ocala Man Of Possession Of Child Sex Abuse Images

Ocala, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Justin Lewis (41, Ocala) guilty of possession of child sex abuse images. Lewis faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing has not yet been set. Lewis had originally been indicted on February 6, 2019. A federal grand jury later returned a superseding indictment on June 20, 2023.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, federal agents executed a search warrant at Lewis’s Ocala residence on February 7, 2018, in an unrelated wire fraud investigation. During the search, agents located two external hard drives on Lewis’s desk that contained video files depicting young children being sexually abused. The hard drives also contained numerous files and documents attributed to Lewis, including personal photographs, copies of his high school diploma, emails, text messages, and business records. One of the hard drives was also encrypted with a password that Lewis also used for many of his personal accounts.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney William S. Hamilton.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.