An 83-year-old Middleburg man is facing a felony charge after Clay County Sheriff's Office SWAT deputies served a search warrant at his Half Moon Circle home as part of a child exploitation investigation. David Cangemi came out of the residence and was detained without incident before detectives interviewed him and ultimately determined there was probable cause for his arrest.
The investigation was led by the Clay County Sheriff's Office and conducted by its Internet Crimes Against Children unit, with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, according to News4JAX. Investigators processed the home for evidence after Cangemi was detained, and he was ultimately charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a victim younger than 15. He was booked into the Clay County Jail, where his booking is pending medical clearance, the station reports.
The exact origin of the investigation, whether it stemmed from a CyberTip or an NCIS referral, has not been disclosed, and neither has the specific evidence recovered from the search, or whether Cangemi has any military or civilian background tied to the case. The reason for his pending medical clearance before standard jail booking also remains unclear. Investigators describe the case as ongoing, per the same account, and are still seeking information from the public.
A Sheriff's Office Unit Built for These Cases
The Clay County Sheriff's Office established a dedicated Special Victims Unit in February 2026 to investigate all sex-related crimes, although most of its caseload consists of child sexual abuse material cases, according to the Clay County Sheriff's Office. The agency's ICAC unit has also relied on a specialized electronic-detection K9 named Ty, trained with federal funding to sniff out hidden micro-SD cards, hard drives, and phones during search warrants, per past CCSO reporting.
Naval involvement in a case like this is not unusual for the region. NCIS routinely provides liaison officers and investigative support to local ICAC task forces when cases touch naval personnel, military property, or federal digital domains, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Whether that jurisdictional link applies to Cangemi's case specifically has not been confirmed.
Part of a Broader Regional Crackdown
This arrest lands amid an active stretch of child exploitation enforcement across Northeast Florida. In July, the Clay County Sheriff's Office ICAC Unit ran a four-day undercover sting known as Operation Firewall, assisted by CCSO SWAT, which led to 12 arrests — a case Hoodline covered in depth. In April, Hoodline also reported on a separate Middleburg child abuse material arrest triggered by a tip from a child-protection watchdog group.
Zooming out further, the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, which includes the Clay County Sheriff's Office alongside federal partners, opened 1,220 child exploitation investigations in 2024 and seized 122 electronic devices containing more than 10 million illicit digital files, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nationally, the scale is even larger: 61 coordinated ICAC task forces conducted nearly 347,000 investigations in 2025 and made more than 17,000 arrests, per the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In February 2026, the Florida Legislature expanded the state's Internet Crimes Against Children Grant Program to funnel more funding to local sheriff's offices running these operations, according to the Florida Senate.
What Florida Law Says About the Charge
Florida Statute § 800.04 contains a second-degree-felony reference for lewd or lascivious battery, according to the Florida Senate. A conviction would also require lifetime registration as a sexual offender under Florida Statute § 943.0435, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Deputies say the investigation remains open, and they are asking anyone with information to come forward. Tips can be directed to Detective Eva Solis at [email protected] or by phone at 904-264-6512, or submitted anonymously through the SaferWatch app or First Coast Crime Stoppers.
