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Former Jacksonville Jaguars Employee Who Hacked Jumbotron Gets Sentenced to 220 Years in Prison for Child Sex Abuse
Former Jacksonville Jaguars employee sentenced to 220 years for child sex abuse and hacking the team's Jumbotron.
Trigger Warning: This article includes references to sexual abuse.
In an unsettling confluence of crimes, Samuel Thompson, a former Jacksonville Jaguars employee, has been handed a staggering 220-year prison sentence for child sexual abuse, marking a grim end to a case that intertwines tech misuse with heinous acts against minors “followed by a lifetime of supervised release,” the DOJ said.
Former Jacksonville Jaguars employee sentenced to 220 years
Thompson's past as a convicted sex offender emerged in a shocking context, revealing a history of exploiting children alongside an audacious hack of the Jaguars' Jumbotron. Samuel Thompson, a 53-year-old St. Augustine resident, now faces 220 years behind bars, a sentence handed down by federal authorities for a series of offenses that shock the conscience.
Samuel Thompson was found guilty on multiple counts, including the production, receipt, and possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), alongside violations related to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), unauthorized computer access, and illegal firearm possession.
"Producing, receiving, and possessing child sexual abuse material, producing CSAM while required to register as a sex offender, violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), sending unauthorized damaging commands to a protected computer, possessing a firearm as a convicted felon," outlines the Department of Justice in a stark enumeration of Thompson's transgressions.
Former Jaguars employee sentenced to 220 years in prison for child pornography.
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His tenure with the Jaguars, beginning in 2013 as a scoreboard consultant, ended in controversy upon the discovery of his prior convictions and his illicit activities, including the scoreboard hack during three games in the 2018 season. As a contractor hired for his expertise, Thompson's engagement with the Jacksonville Jaguars took a dark turn when his criminal activities came to light.
Despite being mandated to disclose his sex offender status under his contract, Thompson concealed his 1998 conviction for second-degree sodomy of a child in Alabama. His deception remained undetected until the Jaguars chose not to renew his contract, a decision that preceded a series of investigations revealing his involvement in cybersecurity breaches and child exploitation.
However, Thompson's dismissal did not deter his nefarious activities. Utilizing an account tied to him, he remotely accessed the computer system, dispatching commands to a rogue server secreted within the Jaguars' server room. This cyber sabotage led to scoreboard malfunctions during the 2018 season. This illicit access caused notable disruptions during games, drawing the attention of the FBI.
A subsequent raid on Thompson's residence in 2019. Federal agents discovered a firearm illegally possessed by Thompson, along with computer equipment and his iPhone. The latter revealed a harrowing collection of thousands of images and hundreds of videos of CSAM. Further scrutiny of Thompson's iPad exposed his searches on the dark web for CSAM, painting a grim picture of his predatory pursuits. Thompson was arrested on Jan. 31, 2020, after being deported from the Philippines.
Investigators found that in June 2019, Thompson produced CSAM of three male children (ages 7, 8, and 10 at the time) in his care and custody. The DOJ said interviews with the children revealed: “that Thompson had molested two of the children, exposed himself to two of the children, exposed children to CSAM, spoken to the children about s*x and masturbation, and had encouraged the children to play a ‘game’ wherein the children were required to take off their clothes and run around Thompson’s house.”
The Department of Justice's announcement of Thompson's 220-year sentence punctuates a narrative of betrayal, misuse of technology, and egregious violations against children. As Thompson faces a life behind bars, the justice served in this instance marks a significant downfall for a former Jacksonville Jaguars contractor turned predator.
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