Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jack William Cheves, 18, initially arrested on July 9 for multiple felonies related to sexual conduct with a 13-year-old, is now facing additional charges linked to a 15-year-old victim.
The investigation was launched in April 2025 after the parents of the second victim uncovered inappropriate content on their daughter’s phone. They also found messages exchanged with the 13-year-old detailing her feelings of being manipulated by Cheves. This prompted the Gainesville Police Department to secure a search warrant for Cheves’s Snapchat account, leading to many of the charges he now faces.
The 15-year-old, originally identified as 14 in the arrest report, reportedly met Cheves at school where he expressed a romantic interest in her. He is accused of engaging in live video conversations where he committed lewd acts, and allegedly coerced her to disrobe during these interactions.
According to a detective, in January 2025, the second victim was at the first victim’s house when Cheves “engaged in a predatory and concerted effort” to pressure the two girls to engage in sexual activity together and record it for him. Cheves allegedly pleaded with the 13-year-old victim “for hours” to get her to show the 15-year-old victim a picture of his genitals and pressured the two girls to read sexual messages out loud. Cheves allegedly tried to convince the girls to be in a three-way relationship with him and masturbated while on live calls with the victims.
The second victim said Cheves once touched her genitals over her clothes at school, but someone else walked in, so he stopped.
Over 80 child pornography images, including two photos of the second victim, were reportedly saved on Cheves’s Snapchat account.
Cheves turned 18 in October 2024, so all of the alleged incidents took place after he turned 18, although he was still in high school.
Post Miranda, Cheves reportedly said he had received two photos from the second victim and that he had sent her at least one image or video of his genitals. He reportedly recalled a three-way video call between himself and the two victims in January in which all of them took off items of clothing. He said he didn’t touch the second victim’s genitals over her clothing at school but reportedly said he touched her inappropriately at a local park sometime in January.
Along with the previous 21 felonies, Cheves has been charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim under 16, lewd or lascivious behavior, and two counts of possession of child pornography. Judge David Kreider previously ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
