Pinellas County Convicted Child Sex Offender Indicted For Attempting To Entice A Minor To Engage In Sexual Activity

Jacksonville, Florida - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment charging Joshua Andrew Finley (46, St. Petersburg) with using the internet to attempt to entice a minor child to engage in sexual activity. If convicted, Finley faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. Finley is a convicted child sex offender, having previously been convicted in Wisconsin (2009) of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. Finley is currently detained pending his trial scheduled for December 2024.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the St. Petersburg Police Department, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, and the Lee County Sheriff's Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

An indictment 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.

It is another 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. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue child victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.