Clay County Sheriff’s Deputy Charged With Having Sex With Girl, 15

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  Former Clay County Sheriff's Office Deputy Travis Ryan Pritchard

   

Clay County Sheriff's Office Deputy Travis Ryan Pritchard, 36, is charged with having sex with a minor after his arrest on May 2.

WJCT News partner News4Jax reports he was fired by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office following the arrest and that he had been previously disciplined  by the Sheriff's Office for improper conduct.

He faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in a federal prison if convicted.

Federal prosecutors said he was assigned to a DUI unit when he was arrested by the Green Cove Springs Police Department around 2 a.m. on Saturday, May 2.

Pritchard is accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl on a weekly basis, according to the U.S Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.

He was arrested after an undercover detective from the Green Cove Springs Police Department assumed the child’s identity and chatted with Pritchard using an online chat application.

Pritchard is accused of thinking the undercover officer was the girl and using the chat to encourage her to sneak out to meet him for a "quickie."

He’s also accused of sending a photograph of himself from the waist down, wearing only boxer shorts, to the undercover officer.

The arrest came about as part of Project Safe Childhood, which is a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice. The case was investigated by the Green Cove Springs Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations.