A Broward County sex offender who is serving a 25-year prison sentence will face new charges after he was found to be continuing “inappropriate communication” with a minor from his prison cell, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said.
Thomas Kendall Jr., 44, of Deerfield Beach, has been an inmate at the Martin Correctional Institution in Martin County since 2024, where he is serving the sentence for charges out of Broward County of lewd or lascivious molestation and conduct and video voyeurism, Florida Department of Corrections records show.
Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies recently discovered “evidence of continued criminal activity inside his prison cell” at the state institution, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release shared on social media Thursday.
Kendall was the subject of an Internet Crimes Against Children tip that alleged he was “communicating inappropriately” with a minor. The Sheriff’s Office did not provide further information about the tip.
Detectives found a cellphone in Kendall’s cell, which showed he had been communicating with a minor on social media and contained “thousands of child sexual abuse images” and pornographic images generated through AI “that depicted Kendall’s original victim,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office said Kendall will be transferred to the county jail to face new charges, including possession of child sexual abuse material.
As of Friday night, Kendall remained in the state prison in Martin County and was held in “disciplinary confinement.”
Court records with further information were not available Friday.