Published on April 23, 2026 at 3:14 pm
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A former preschool teacher was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for using the internet to entice a teen to engage in sexual activity, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Tony Leroy Bartley Jr., 38, of Jacksonville, also was ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty in January.
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Bartley was working as a prekindergarten teacher at the Amazing Explorer’s Academy child care in Nocatee at the time of his arrest, according to his Facebook page.
According to court documents, an undercover FBI agent in Jacksonville was working to identify adults who were trying to meet children to engage in sexual activity. In mid- to late July, the agent found several private online messages on an app from someone calling themselves “keven.”
An undercover agent posed as a 13-year-old girl, and “kevin” — later identified as Bartley — asked about her sexual experience, described sexual acts he wanted to perform on her and sent an explicit photo of himself, according to a news release.
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Bartley was arrested Aug. 5 and admitted to the communications with an underage girl, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He told FBI agents he knew he was “going away for a long time,” prosecutors said.
