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Press Release

North Carolina Man Sentenced to 27.5 Years in Prison for Enticing and Traveling to Pensacola for Sex with a Minor

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Florida

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Nicholas G. Peacock, 34, of Salisbury, North Carolina, was sentenced to 27.5 years in prison today in the U.S. District Court in Pensacola for enticement of a minor and interstate travel for illicit sexual activity.  The sentence was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

In April 2016, S.S. reported that her twelve-year-old granddaughter was missing and that she believed the child had met someone online and left with him.  When law enforcement visited S.S.’s residence, the child had returned home.  The child said she traveled to North Carolina for the weekend with a white male named “Nick,” who was later identified as Peacock.

S.S. later told officers that she found information on a laptop that she had allowed her granddaughter to use that led S.S. to believe the child had been sexually active with Peacock.  In interviews with investigators, the victim disclosed that she had been sexually active with Peacock over the weekend while they were in North Carolina, that she had met Peacock online via Skype, and that Peacock had transported her to North Carolina and then back to Florida after Peacock had found a missing person report.

In addition to telephone and hotel records, investigators reviewed thousands of Skype chats on the laptop from the time period of December 2015 through April 2016, which revealed many sexually explicit conversations, images, and videos exchanged between the victim and Peacock.  Peacock pled guilty on July 17, 2017.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, and other members of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website.  For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

Contact

For more information, contact:
Amy Alexander, Public Information Officer
amy.alexander@usdoj.gov

Updated March 23, 2018

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Project Safe Childhood