Florida man who avoided prison after first child porn conviction sentenced for second offense
BOCA RATON — A Boca Raton man who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in 2015 was sentenced to more than a decade in federal prison this week following his conviction for the crime a second time.
Prosecutors said Jerry Seal, 60, paid a woman in the Philippines for live videos of her children in sexually explicit positions. Seal was already prohibited from using the internet for nonwork purposes as part of the 25-year sexual offender probation that followed his 2015 conviction in Broward County.
U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal sentenced Seal to 15 years in federal prison Wednesday, followed by 30 years of supervised release.
Video sex morphed into child pornography, prosecutors say
Broward County authorities began investigating Seal again in November when they received word of suspicious activity on his PayPal account. Three months later, a Palm Beach County judge issued a warrant for Seal's arrest for failing to register his email addresses with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's sex-offender program, which he has belonged to since his conviction in 2015.
During the arrest, corrections officers found a Samsung tablet hidden inside a bathroom cabinet Seal shared with his brother. A forensic extraction revealed several conversations between him and a woman overseas, whose name and age are withheld from court filings.
More: South Florida attorney pleads guilty to possessing nearly 2,000 images of child pornography
During one conversation in October 2022, Seal offered to pay $1,000 for 15 minutes of video sex. Two months later, he told the woman he wanted more than her live sex shows. He wanted to see someone young.
The woman said she had a 1-year-old, and Seal declined.
"That's too young," he wrote.
She offered a 5-year-old, which Seal said was "OK," but he preferred children between 6 and 12. For $2,000, Seal could see her 12-year-old sister instead.
Investigators later reviewed a six-minute screen recording of a Skype call between Seal and the woman, in which he watched a nude child who appeared to be about 5 years old.
PayPal reported nearly $3,500 in payments from Seal's account to the woman's. Skype records included more than 1,000 messages between the pair, as well as more than 25,000 messages, images, videos and calls exchanged with hundreds of other users.
“The prosecution of those who repeatedly sexually offend children is of the utmost priority,” said U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida Thursday. “We implore the public to report all suspected child abuse and exploitation to law enforcement, so that we may protect our children from threats from near and afar.”
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Registered sex offender continued to view child porn while on probation
