PENSACOLA MAN SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR CYBERSTALKING AND SENDING OBSCENE MATERIALS TO MINOR FEMALES

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA - Charles M. Schmaltz, 29, of Pensacola, Florida, was sentenced to five years in federal prison for cyberstalking and sending obscene materials to minor females. The sentence was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: "Our children face unprecedented threats online from predators, like this defendant, but this case demonstrates the unified commitment of our state and federal law enforcement officers to keep them safe by capturing the offenders who try to exploit them. My office will continue to back up those excellent investigative efforts by law enforcement with successful prosecutions to send those offenders to federal prison."

Court documents reflect that the defendant communicated with multiple minor females between 2022 and 2024 by utilizing ten or more social media accounts to contact them. The minor females, and later their parents, repeatedly requested that the defendant cease communicating with them. Instead, the defendant sent sexually explicit content to the minor females, including extremely graphic communications. The minor females in this case ranged in age from nine to 15 years old. The defendant was eventually caught through the work of a multi-agency investigation in North Florida and South Alabama, where some of the victims were located.

Upon his release, Schmaltz will be supervised for five years by a United States Probation Officer and have to comply with sexual offender treatment. The defendant faces further state charges in Alabama.

The case involved a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, and the Dale County Sheriff's Office and the Dothan Police Department in South Alabama. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice and led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation's principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.