Homosassa man sentenced to 25 years for cyber crimes during undercover operation
Photo graphic courtesy of State Attorney's Office.
Citrus County, Florida - On Monday morning, February 5, 2024, 38 year-old Glenn Talmage Cunningham of Homosassa, Florida was sentenced to serve 25 years in the Florida Department of Corrections, followed by five years of probation.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Blake Shore and Elizabeth Colombrito.
On January 26. 2024, jurors found Cunningham guilty of four counts of transmitting material harmful to a minor to a minor, and two counts of computer pornography with intent to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child to engage in an illegal act. Cunningham failed to appear for his trial, which resulted in an arrest warrant being issued for him after jurors rendered their guilty verdict. He was arrested five days later in Marion County, Florida.
In March 2023, Cunningham was arrested by Citrus County Sheriff's Office High Tech Crimes Unit during an undercover Internet Crimes Against Children operation called Operation Lucky Strike. The operation was aimed at apprehending internet cyber predators who attempted to engage in sexual activity with a child.
As part of the operation, law enforcement officials posed as minors on websites. The people arrested sent sexually explicit pictures, messages, or requests of various sexual activities they wanted to perform with the officers they believed to be minors.
During the operation, law enforcement offiials were contacted by Cunningham, who made phone calls, sent text meassages and two graphic images to an officer he believed to be a 14 year-old girl. After these incidents occurred, an arrest warrant was issued for Cunningham and he was arrested. He claimed he believed he was talking to an adult, but messages via text and a chat forum showed tha Cunningham had acknowledged that the person was 14 years-old. He admitted he'd sent pornographic images of male anatomy to the officer posing as the 14 year-old girl.
"Our office would like to thank the dedicated law enforcement officers who took part in this operation," said Bill Gladson, Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney. "As a result of their efforts and the successful prosecution by our team, predators like Cunningham know there will be severe consequences for attempting to entice a minor child for sexual gratification."