Osceola County Resident Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Attempting to Entice a Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity

Christopher Lee Cumberland, of Osceola County, Florida was sentenced on September 6, 2019, by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman to 365 months in prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release after previously pleading guilty to attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity (Case No. 19CR60094).   

Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) made the announcement.

According to the court docket, including the agreed upon factual proffer, on March 28, 2019, a law enforcement officer acting in an undercover capacity observed that Cumberland posted a message on an internet group messaging forum that used language commonly associated with individuals seeking children for sexual purposes. The undercover made contact with Cumberland online. Between March 28, 2019 and April 10, 2019, the undercover and Cumberland exchanged more than 500 messages.

During the communications, Cumberland expressed an interest in meeting in person so that he could engage in sexual activity with a minor.  Later, Cumberland met with the undercover agent in the Southern District of Florida with the intent to commit a sex act with a minor.

Cumberland also admitted that he had sexual contact with numerous minors.

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

U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigatory efforts of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force in this matter.  This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Koontz.