John Burgos, who was facing state-level charges of false imprisonment and battery in Duval County Court, is now set to face prosecution on different charges at the federal level.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The State Attorney’s Office has decided to drop its case against John Carlos Joseph Burgos, an ex-officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department, as revealed during a court session held in Duval County on Wednesday.
Instead, Burgos’ case will be entirely handled by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Originally arrested in Duval for false imprisonment and battery that resulted in bodily harm, Burgos found himself facing additional legal troubles when a federal grand jury indicted him on February 5. He now faces accusations linked to federal child sex crimes involving the production of child sexual abuse material.
Burgos worked at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for six years, and after his arrest Oct. 31, 2024, he was suspended without pay and terminated.
He was originally waiting for a trial in the Duval County Court; however, prosecutors will be dropping that case.
The federal indictment says Burgos committed the crimes between July 19, 2015 and Nov. 26, 2019.
The document says he “did employ, use, persuade, induce, entice and coerce, and attempt to employ, use, persuade, induce, and coerce a minor to engage in any sexually explicit conduct” for the purpose of producing pictures or videos, and that material was mailed, shipped and transported across state lines and through “foreign commerce.”
What were his state charges?
Burgos’ original state charges were described in an arrest report from JSO. (Some of those details are too explicit to report.)
According to the document, the incident leading to his arrest began when Burgos was dispatched to a domestic violence call that led to the victim’s boyfriend being arrested. Afterward, he returned to the scene to provide the woman information on a Safe Place to reside, but without equipping his body-worn camera, according to the report.
The woman, 21, said told her, “You’re a beautiful girl,” gave her a fist bump and offered to buy items for her baby. She said she declined, and he asked if they could talk upstairs in her unit. He said he was questioning his decision to only arrest her boyfriend and asked her to expose her chest to check for injuries. That’s when she realized he wasn’t wearing his bodycam and tried to secretly turn on her cellphone video. But he caught on and asked if she was recording, so she stopped in fear of what he might do.
She said she complied and exposed her breasts and he asked her to turn around so he could check her back. Shortly after that, he requested her to remove her top again and “cup” and lift her breasts, and she complied. She said he was continually checking his cellphone and had it pointed in her direction as though he was taking pictures or video.
“The victim advised the suspect made multiple references to not arresting her earlier for various reasons,” according to the report.
He then asked her if her boyfriend had sexually assaulted her, which was never alleged, and to which she denied. But he asked to check her again. She said she was scared but this time was able to covertly activate her cellphone video and record several minutes. He requested her to remove her clothes, which she did and he inspected her below the waist front and back, according to her account to investigators. After she put her clothes back on, he gave her a hug before leaving. She called her mother and then 911 to report it.
Burgos was interviewed by the Sheriff’s Office Integrity Unit and confirmed he had gone back there without his bodycam on his uniform and requested that she remove her top twice for the purpose of looking for evidence. He denied requesting to see her naked but “merely wanted to check her inner thighs from the front and rear to look for possible bruising,” the report states.
