Winter Haven man sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud and sexual exploitation of 15-year-old girl

WINTER HAVEN, Florida. – Billie Harold McDuffie, Jr., 37, of Winter Haven, was sentenced Monday to 18 years in a federal prison for soliciting a minor to engage in sexual conduct, possession of equipment to manufacture devices, possession of 15 or more devices with unauthorized access and aggravated identity theft.

The court also ordered McDuffie to forfeit a cell phone, two black card encoders and two desktop computers that McDuffie used to commit the crimes in this case.

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McDuffie pleaded guilty on February 15, 2024.

According to court documents, McDuffie met a 15-year-old victim online and lured her into engaging in sexually explicit conversations via cell phone and social media. For five months, McDuffie repeatedly had sexual contact with the victim, even after she confirmed she was a minor. An online informant notified the FBI of McDuffie’s sexual misconduct with the child.

On July 21, 2022, a search warrant was executed on McDuffie’s residence, where agents found McDuffie and the victim. Agents returned the child to his family and arrested McDuffie.

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During the search of McDuffie’s residence, officers also found evidence of fraud that he had committed. The evidence included blank checks, packages containing stolen identities, several fake debit and credit cards, driver’s licenses, card encoders and printers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated this case with assistance from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney D. Richardson-Jones was in charge of the prosecution.

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