JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jerry Cobb, 38, of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a 13-year-old child to engage in sexual activity using a cellphone and the internet. Cobb faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison following an undercover operation by the FBI.<\/p>\n
United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the guilty plea, which stems from a multi-week investigation conducted in the summer of 2025. The undercover operation targeted individuals using social media applications to solicit children for sexual activity in the Jacksonville area.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n According to court documents, an undercover FBI agent used a social media app to identify adults seeking sexual contact with children. Between July 18 and August 1, the agent communicated with a user named \u201cJerry,\u201d who was later identified as Cobb. The two exchanged several private messages on the application. <\/p>\n After the agent informed Cobb that the \u201cchild\u201d was 13 years old, Cobb asked for a residence location and inquired if the \u201cchild\u201d was a virgin and could \u201csneak out at night.\u201d<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n On July 30, Cobb suggested a meeting. \u201cYou want to just get a hotel room?\u201d Cobb texted the agent. During the exchange, Cobb proposed engaging in sexual activity at a hotel. On July 31, he sent another message confirming his intent, stating, \u201cYes I\u2019m serious that we can [have] sex.\u201d<\/p>\n The following day, Cobb traveled to the designated meeting location that evening, where he expected to meet the 13-year-old.<\/p>\n FBI agents arrested Cobb immediately upon his arrival. The investigation was a joint effort between the FBI, the St. Johns County Sheriff\u2019s Office and the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n The case falls under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation. The program coordinates federal, state and local resources to locate and prosecute individuals who exploit children. <\/p>\n Cobb faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in federal prison, as well as a potential lifetime term of supervised release.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jerry Cobb, 38, of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a 13-year-old child to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,28,348,116,82649,351,118,82650,117,82651,349,82652,81938,350,346,345],"class_list":["post-174334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-child-sex-predator","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-jerry-cobb","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jerry-cobb","tag-northeast-florida","tag-project-safe-childhood","tag-sexual-predator","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}