A Palm Harbor man has been sentenced to six years and six months in federal prison for receiving child sexual abuse material. U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven handed down the sentence to George Puskas, II, age 66, who was also ordered to pay $46,000 in restitution and must register as a sex offender. Puskas had pleaded guilty on March 27, 2025.
Court documents state that between December 2022 and August 2023, the FBI used a file-sharing program to access one of Puskas’s electronic devices and downloaded several files containing child sexual abuse material. In September 2023, agents executed a search warrant at his home and seized multiple electronic devices. A forensic review uncovered hundreds of photos and dozens of videos depicting child sexual abuse material, including images involving minors under the age of 12 and content showing sadistic or masochistic conduct.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Largo Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Ross Roberts prosecuted the case.
“This case was 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.”
