Tony Leroy Bartley, Jr., 38, of Jacksonville has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jordan E. Pratt to 10 years in federal prison after being accused of using the internet to attempt to entice what authorities presented during an undercover operation as a 13-year-old child.
Bartley was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender. He pleaded on Jan. 27, 2026, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made this announcement.
At the time of his arrest in this case, Bartley was working as a pre-kindergarten teacher at a school in Ponte Vedra Beach.
According to court documents, an FBI agent in Jacksonville was conducting an online undercover operation on a social media application to identify adults who were seeking to meet and engage in sexual activity with children.
On Aug. 5, 2025, Bartley was arrested by FBI agents.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
This was a case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
