JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jerry Cobb, 38, of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a 13-year-old child to engage in sexual activity using a cellphone and the internet. Cobb faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison following an undercover operation by the FBI.<\/p>\n
United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the guilty plea, which stems from a multi-week investigation conducted in the summer of 2025. The undercover operation targeted individuals using social media applications to solicit children for sexual activity in the Jacksonville area.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n According to court documents, an undercover FBI agent used a social media app to identify adults seeking sexual contact with children. Between July 18 and August 1, the agent communicated with a user named \u201cJerry,\u201d who was later identified as Cobb. The two exchanged several private messages on the application. <\/p>\n After the agent informed Cobb that the \u201cchild\u201d was 13 years old, Cobb asked for a residence location and inquired if the \u201cchild\u201d was a virgin and could \u201csneak out at night.\u201d<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n On July 30, Cobb suggested a meeting. \u201cYou want to just get a hotel room?\u201d Cobb texted the agent. During the exchange, Cobb proposed engaging in sexual activity at a hotel. On July 31, he sent another message confirming his intent, stating, \u201cYes I\u2019m serious that we can [have] sex.\u201d<\/p>\n The following day, Cobb traveled to the designated meeting location that evening, where he expected to meet the 13-year-old.<\/p>\n FBI agents arrested Cobb immediately upon his arrival. The investigation was a joint effort between the FBI, the St. Johns County Sheriff\u2019s Office and the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n The case falls under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation. The program coordinates federal, state and local resources to locate and prosecute individuals who exploit children. <\/p>\n Cobb faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in federal prison, as well as a potential lifetime term of supervised release.<\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jerry Cobb, 38, of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a 13-year-old child to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":625508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[7320,5229,7323,3188,723,7324,7310,267280,7327,267282,267283,7325,267284,267281,7326,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7322,7321],"class_list":{"0":"post-625507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-cbs47","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-fox30","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-jacksonville-child-sex-predator","16":"tag-jacksonville-fl","17":"tag-jacksonville-jerry-cobb","18":"tag-jerry-cobb","19":"tag-northeast-florida","20":"tag-project-safe-childhood","21":"tag-sexual-predator","22":"tag-southeast-georgia","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa","29":"tag-wfox","30":"tag-wjax"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116156313930333083","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}