A Jacksonville man has been arrested and charged with attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity, according to an announcement from United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe. Tony Leroy Bartley, Jr., 37, was taken into custody by FBI agents on August 5, 2025, in Ponte Vedra Beach. He is being held pending a detention hearing scheduled for August 11, 2025.
Bartley faces charges of using his cellphone and the internet in an attempt to solicit a 13-year-old child for sexual activity. If convicted, he could receive a minimum sentence of ten years and up to life in federal prison, as well as a possible lifetime term of supervised release.
Court documents indicate that between June 17 and July 30, 2025, an undercover FBI agent in Jacksonville conducted an operation on a social media application aimed at identifying adults seeking online contact with minors for sexual purposes. On several occasions in late July, the agent exchanged private messages with someone using the screen name “keven.” After the agent stated that “she” was only 13 years old, “keven” suggested engaging in sexual acts and sent explicit material. The user was later identified as Bartley.
“A criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown is prosecuting.
This arrest falls under Project Safe Childhood—a national initiative started by the Department of Justice in 2006 to address child sexual exploitation and abuse cases across the country. The program coordinates efforts among federal prosecutors’ offices—including U.S. Attorneys—and other agencies to find offenders who exploit children online or offline; it also seeks justice for victims through prosecution and rescue operations (more information can be found at https://www.justice.gov/psc).
