Convicted Sex Offender Sentenced To Nearly 20 Years For Possessing Images And Videos Depicting The Sexual Abuse Of Children

 Ocala, Florida – Senior United States District Judge John Antoon II has sentenced Terry George Zimmerman (73, Lady Lake) to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison for possessing materials depicting the sexual exploitation of children.  Zimmerman was also sentenced to a life term of supervision, ordered to register as a sex offender, and must pay $21,000 in restitution to identified child victims.

A federal jury had found Zimmerman guilty on November 19, 2020.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, officers from the Lady Lake Police Department executed a search warrant at Zimmerman’s residence and seized several of his computers and other electronic devices. During a subsequent forensic examination of the devices, agents from Homeland Security Investigations recovered from Zimmerman’s 2 computers and 12 USB drives nearly 2,400 images and over 300 videos depicting young children being sexually abused and tortured. 

Prior to this offense, in 1995, Zimmerman was convicted as a sex offender in federal court in New York for possessing child pornography.

“It is a travesty when a previously convicted federal sex offender commits the same crime,” said HSI Orlando Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Pezzutti. “But thanks to our HSI special agents, the Lady Lake Police Department, and the Ocala Police Department, he will now return to prison, making our local communities a safer place.”        

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Lady Lake Police Department, and the City of Ocala Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael P. Felicetta and Tyrie K. Boyer.

This is another case 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 the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.