Jacksonville: Florida teacher, 30, pleads guilty to trying to entice 14-year-old child to have sex
On August 29, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced that 30-year-old Matthew Christopher Yates (booking photo not availabe) pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a 14-year-old child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a video of her own sexual abuse. Yates faces a minimum penalty of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. His sentencing hearing is set for December 18, 2025.
At the time of his arrest on March 11, 2022, Yates was employed as an eighth-grade teacher at Veritas Classical School in St. Augustine, Florida.
Background: On February 11, 2022, an undercover FBI agent in Jacksonville, who was posing online as a 14-year-old child, responded to an online notice posted by the user “English teacher,” who was subsequently identified as Yates, on an online social media application. During this online text conversation, the “child” advised that “she” was 14 years old and in eighth grade, and Yates stated that he was a teacher, asking the “child,” “[e]ver fantasize about a teacher?” Yates and the “child” exchanged photos, and Yates stated, “I bet you look hot in a bikini.”
Between February 22 and March 11, 2022, Yates and the “child” exchanged more text messages, and Yates sent the “child” several photos, including an explicit photo of himself. On March 8, 2022, Yates asked the “child” to meet in person, and he detailed the specific sexual acts that he intended to perform on the “child.”
On March 10, 2022, Yates and the “child” confirmed plans to meet and Yates asked the “child” if “she” wanted to video-record their planned sexual activity so that the “child” “could remember it even better.” Yates told the “child” that he could use his cellphone to record their sexual activity and that he would delete the video later so that no one would see it.
On March 11, 2022, Yates drove to a prearranged location in Jacksonville to meet the “child” for sex and was arrested by FBI agents. A search incident to his arrest revealed that Yates brought several condoms and a cellphone with him. Yates later admitted that he was going to meet a 14-year-old girl that he had met online and that he intended to have sex with “her.”
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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