A Wakulla County man has been arrested on a charge of attempted enticement of a minor. Richard Lynn Simmons Jr., 36, of Sopchoppy, was arrested following a criminal complaint alleging he used a cellphone and the internet to communicate with an individual he believed to be the parent of an 11-year-old child while attempting to arrange a sexual encounter.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Simmons, using the username “snowwis89,” allegedly engaged in multiple online and text message communications with an undercover FBI agent posing as the parent of an underage child. The documents state that Simmons expressed interest in sexual activity and indicated he did not believe the child’s age was a concern. Investigators allege that when asked whether the child’s age was too young, Simmons responded in the negative and continued the conversation by describing the conduct he intended to carry out, as outlined in the criminal complaint.
Simmons was arrested last Tuesday, by FBI agents after traveling from Tallahassee to Jacksonville with the alleged intention of meeting the undercover agent and the fictitious child. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Rodney Brown and is part of an ongoing investigation conducted by the FBI and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. This case falls under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which has aimed to address child sexual exploitation and abuse since 2006. Additional information about the initiative is available on its official website.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office emphasized that a criminal complaint is an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If convicted, Simmons faces a potential sentence ranging from a minimum of 10 years to life in federal prison, along with the possibility of a lifetime term of supervised release.
