Man Sentenced To More Than 10 Years For Attempting To Engage In Sex Acts With A Minor

Tampa, Florida - U.S. District Judge Charlene Honeywell has sentenced Jonathan Howard Kuykendall (39, Tampa), a/k/a "Bright Darkness," to 10 years and 1 month in federal prison for attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. The court also ordered Kuykendall to forfeit his cellphone, which he used in committing the offense. A federal jury found Kuykendall guilty on June 26, 2024.

According to court documents, Kuykendall was a member of the U.S. Air Force stationed at MacDill Air Force Base. Trial evidence showed that, in June 2022, Kuykendall began messaging someone named "Ms. Glitter" online. Within the first few messages, Ms. Glitter told Kuykendall that she was 14 years old and lived on the base with her single mother. Undeterred by her age, over the next two weeks, Kuykendall groomed Ms. Glitter, gradually introducing sexual topics to her. He began by talking about cuddling with her and kissing her. From there, he began sending her extremely graphic descriptions of various sex acts that he wished to perform with her as well as numerous explicit images of adults.

This continued until June 24, 2022, when Kuykendall, thinking Ms. Glitter's mom was not home, agreed to come to her house. Kuykendall, thinking he might be in for a set-up, conducted extensive countersurveillance. He arrived at the house long before planned, drove past the house multiple times, lied to Ms. Glitter about where he was, and paced the parking lot looking into cars. Kuykendall then took a handful of male enhancement pills and walked up to the home's backdoor.

When Kuykendall arrived at Ms. Glitter's home, he learned that she was actually an undercover federal agent conducting a proactive Internet Crimes Against Children operation. Kuykendall was arrested on scene.

This case was investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Detachment 340 at MacDill Air Force Base, the 6th Security Forces Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, and Homeland Security Investigations - Tampa. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karyna Valdes.

This 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.