Nathan Christopher Lewis, a 21-year-old former University of Florida student, faces a stringent sentence after pleading nolo contendere to 21 charges related to child pornography. Following his plea, the court has imposed an eight-year state prison term, to be succeeded by a decade of sexual offender probation.

Lewis’s legal troubles began with an arrest on November 23, 2024, prompted by a CyberTip regarding a disturbing image shared with a minor who had clearly stated she was 14 years old. This tip triggered a deeper investigation, leading to a subpoena that uncovered incriminating Snapchat conversations.

The examination of these chats revealed that Lewis’s account had exchanged messages with several users. In five separate instances, he sent images of himself to accounts claiming to be minors aged between 13 and 15. Alarmingly, in two interactions, minors reciprocated by sending photos back. Furthermore, one conversation disturbingly suggested that Lewis had engaged in sexual activities with an 11-year-old.

Despite the clear identification by various accounts as minors, Lewis’s responses were dismissive of their age, with messages such as “19 but u can be younger,” “19 but idc if ur younger,” and “19 but u can be younger idgaf,” indicating a blatant disregard for the age of his correspondents.

A subpoena to Snapchat produced chats between the suspect account and other users. In five of the chats, the suspect account sent photos of himself to accounts that identified themselves as minors between the ages of 13 and 15. In two of the chats, accounts that identified themselves as minors sent pictures to the suspect account. In one chat, the suspect account wrote that he’d had sexual relations with an 11-year-old.

When accounts identified themselves as minors, the suspect account replied by saying he was “19 but u can be younger,” “19 but idc if ur younger,” or “19 but u can be younger idgaf.”

Snapchat also reported that seven Snapchat users had reported the suspect account to Snapchat for “inappropriate” chats.

The Gainesville Police Department detective who investigated the case was contacted by a Broward County Sheriff’s Office Detective, who said she had contacted the victim listed in the CyberTip and had confirmed that she was 14 years old.

Post Miranda, Lewis reportedly said he no longer had Snapchat because it was a “huge distraction” but admitted owning the suspect account and engaging in the chats. He reportedly said he was depressed and lonely during the spring semester and “just wanted to talk to anyone and have an interaction” despite being part of a large friend group. He reportedly said at first that he only chatted with 15- and 16-year-olds, but when told that there were chats with numerous accounts who identified as 13, 14, 15, and 16, he again said he’d gone through a “rough” time in the spring semester. He said he made up the claim that he’d had sex with an 11-year-old and said sometimes he bragged online about things that were not true.

Plea agreement

On March 5, Lewis entered an open plea of nolo contendere to two counts of solicitation of child pornography, six counts of transmitting harmful material to minors, 12 counts of possession of 10 or more images of child pornography, and one count of using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony. According to the plea agreement, the maximum sentence for the charges is 391.125 years in state prison.

Yesterday, Judge James Colaw sentenced him to 9 concurrent sentences of five years in state prison, followed by 12 concurrent sentences of three years in state prison, followed by 10 years of sexual offender probation. Lewis will also be a designated Sexual Offender.