Federal Jury Convicts Former Police Officer For Attempting To Entice A 14-Year-Old Child To Engage In Sexual Activity And Soliciting The Production Of Child Sex Abuse Images
Published 1:15 pm Sunday, June 27, 2021
Jacksonville, Florida – A federal jury has found Andrew Christian Hammock (48, Boca Raton) guilty of attempting to entice a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity and produce visual depictions of herself engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Hammock faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. His sentencing hearing is set for September 20, 2021.
Hammock was arrested on March 17, 2020, at his place of employment, the Margate (Florida) Police Department, where he worked as a sworn police officer.
According to court documents, as well as evidence and testimony admitted during the trial, on February 14, 2020, an undercover FBI agent who was posing online as a 14-year-old child made contact with Hammock, who was using the screen name “playful_guy,” and who later used the name “Florida Guy.” The undercover agent responded to Hammock’s online advertisement that read, “Feel like peeking and being peeked at by a younger girl.” Hammock and the undercover agent exchanged private messages for more than a month using a social media app. On February 16, 2020, Hammock told the “child” that he (Hammock) was employed as a police officer and sent the “child” a photo depicting the waist area of an individual wearing tactical clothing seated in what appeared to be a police vehicle. Between February 14 and March 15, 2020, Hammock sent more than 4,000 messages to the “child,” providing graphic descriptions of the sexually explicit images that he wanted the “child” to take and share with him. Hammock also described in detail the types of sexual activity that he wanted to engage in with the “child.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville, with assistance from the Margate Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kelly S. Karase and Ashley Washington.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 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 victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.