A 41-year-old man has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison after he was found guilty of trying to arrange a sexual encounter with a child. Clifford Frederic Lind, going by the alias “it is what it is,” pleaded guilty to attempting to transmit obscene material to a minor and trying to entice a minor, as per the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Reports detail that, between May 29 and June 4, 2024, Lind engaged in an exchange of sexually explicit images and messages with an individual he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. Communicating through a social media application and text while in Key West, he also made plans to meet the minor in person, which included details on where they would stay and how he would pick her up.
U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles imposed the sentence, and the case was announced by U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of the FBI's Miami office. Running the investigation was the FBI Miami, Key West Resident Agency, with the Key West Police Department providing assistance.
This conviction is part of Project Safe Childhood, a DOJ initiative launched in 2006 to fight the increasing problem of child exploitation and abuse. "This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood," a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, as described by the U.S. Attorney's Office press release.
Those with information on child sexual exploitation or abuse are urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. More information on Lind's case and related documents can be found on the websites of the Southern District of Florida's District Court at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or www.pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 24-cr-10008.
