Absconded sex offender, who used prison inmate's identity to chat with juvenile, arrested

Levy County Sheriff's Office (LCSO)

On March 11, 2025, a Levy County Sheriff's Office School Resource Deputy was made aware that a student had been caught using their cell phone during school. When the phone was taken from the student, school staff members learned that the student was using SnapChat to communicate with another person in a sexually charged conversation.

The School Resource Deputy reviewed the SnapChat messages and saw that the person the student was conversing with had identified themself as a 46 year-old man.

The School Resource Deputy asked Corporal Mike McNeil with the Levy County Sheriff's Office's Criminal Investigations Division to further investigate this incident. Corporal McNeil identified the owner of the SnapChat profile and learned that the person was in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections, as an inmate serving a 15 year sentence, which excluded the profile owner as a viable suspect.

The investigation gained momentum when Corporal McNeil identified Chiefland, Florida as the location of the device sending these chat messages. Detectives converged on this location, in the Manatee Farms subdivision, and found 46 year-old Todd Joseph “TJ” Thompson inside of a derelict truck parked at the back of a property. Thompson did not immediately exit the vehicle, when ordered to dip so, and began making suspicious movements. Detectives quickly removed Thompson from the vehicle, fearing he might be
destroying evidence.

In 2004, Thompson was convicted of first-degree sexual assault in the State of Arkansas, and was designated as a sexual offender. He moved to Florida and registered as a sex offender with the Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office in Trenton, Florida, as required by Florida law. In 2024, Thompson failed to register as a sex offender and fled from Gilchrist County. A warrant for his arrest was issued shortly after he absconded. Thompson has been evading capture since the warrant was issued.

Detectives learned that Thompson used an internet name belonging to someone else in order to conceal his actual online identity. He purchased a cell phone from an unidentified person on the street, which allowed Thompson unfettered access to the internet, and access to the incarcerated individual's social media, including SnapChat, profiles. Thompson used this phone and the inmate's SnapChat profile to chat with the student.

The investigation is ongoing; detectives believe that other victims may be discovered and ask that anyone who has information on Thompson and his online activity to please contact Corporal Mike McNeil at (352) 486-5111 extension 240.

Thompson was arrested and booked into the Levy County Detention Facility, charged with obscene communication use of a electronic device to seduce or solicit a child, transmission of material harmful to a child, use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, possession of a controlled substance, failure to comply with sex offender registration, failure to register internet identifier as a sex offender (SnapChat), failure to register a phone number change as a sex offender, with his bond set at $1.3 million. Thompson's bond assigned to the warrant for absconding from Gilchrist County is set at $300,000.

“We are all too familiar with sexual predators and how they exploit the internet to find new victims," said Levy County Sheriff Bobby McCallum. "This is a classic example of how quickly our children can become the victim of a heinous crime at the hands of a sexual predator. Thompson thought he was hiding his identity by using a phone belonging to a state inmate. Thankfully, the quick thinking of our Levy County school officials and my School Resource Deputy, we were able to protect this child. Words cannot explain how proud I am of all involved in this case, most especially our detectives, who worked feverously to locate and apprehend this dangerous criminal and put him exactly where he belongs - in jail.”