Middle District of Florida | Convicted Pinellas County Child Molester Charged with Attempting to Entice Minor into Sexual Activity

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment against Joshua Andrew Finley (46, St. Petersburg) for using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual acts. If convicted, Finley faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life in federal prison and possible parole for life. Finley is a convicted child molester, previously convicted in Wisconsin (2009) of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual acts with a minor. Finley is currently incarcerated awaiting 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. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

An indictment is nothing more than a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

It’s another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Justice Department to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Abuse and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to investigate, arrest and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue child victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.