Christopher Lee Thompson: Palmetto Man Sentenced to Decades in Prison for Sex Crimes Against Children
Warning: This post contains distressing details of child abuse
A Palmetto man will likely spend the next five decades behind bars after he sexually abused multiple young children for over a decade.
Christopher Lee Thompson, 46, received a 60-year federal prison sentence in June 2024 for producing child sexual abuse material. That punishment runs alongside a 40-year state sentence he received for related crimes in Manatee County.
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| Christopher Thompson |
The criminal investigation into Thompson started in April 2022, when a neighbor told the Manatee County Sheriff's Office that Thompson had sexually assaulted their 5-year-old daughter.
According to court documents, Thompson lured the girl away from a friend's birthday party in the Old Mill Preserve subdivision near Buffalo Creek Park, then he took her to his house across the street on Water Mill Street in Palmetto.
When they were in house, Thompson took her to his room, raped the child and forced her to watch similar videos showing him sexually abusing other children around the same age.
During the investigation, the girl herself told detectives that Thompson had abused her before while their families were on vacation together in Georgia.
They also found out that Thompson had been exploiting children during play dates, birthday parties and sleepovers dating back to 2010.
According to police reports, one incident happened in February 2022 during a sleepover at Thompson's home, as per Miami Herald.
A 7-year-old girl reported that Thompson got into bed with her and touched her over her underwear, and the girl's mother called sheriff's deputies after her daughter told her about the abuse.
Detectives also found a photo showing Thompson's genitalia next to another 8-year-old girl in blue underwear, and the mother identified the child as her daughter, who had also been at the sleepover. When questioned, the girl could not provide details because she did not know Thompson had photographed her.
Just one week before that incident, investigators say Thompson took inappropriate photos of a 12-year-old girl which showed his genitalia touching the girl's shorts. The girl told investigators she often went to Thompson's home to play with his children but said he had never touched her or made inappropriate comments.
At a trampoline park, detectives say Thompson recorded an 11-year-old girl's underwear during his own child's birthday party, and like many victims, the girl was unaware she had been filmed.
"Many of the crimes occurred when children came over to play with Thompson's kids," investigators noted in arrest reports.
The FBI eventually joined the investigation and seized several of Thompson's electronic devices. A forensic review uncovered thousands of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse on two cellphones, an external hard drive, an SD card and a box of DVDs.
In total, law enforcement found more than 18,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material in Thompson's possession. Additionally, Thompson produced about four videos and five images of abuse himself, and they showed him sexually abusing girls as young as 3 and as old as 14.
"When he wakes up every day, all he thinks about is how he can sexually batter another child," Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said at a 2022 news conference. "That's what he does each and every day. That's his mindset."
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| Christopher Thompson with detectives |
Aftre an extensive investigation, at least nine victims were identified, and many of the victims were completely unaware of Thompson's actions at the time they occurred.
Thompson pleaded guilty in June 2024 to six felony charges across four state cases, including two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12, one count of molestation of a child between 12 and 16, one count of attempted molestation and two counts of video voyeurism involving minors.
On March 6, 2024, he pleaded guilty to production of child sexual abuse material in a federal courts and in June 2024, U.S. District Judge William Jung sentenced Thompson to 60 years in federal prison. He also ordered him to forfeit two cellphones, an external hard drive, a box of DVDs and a 128GB Micro SD card tied to the crimes.
"While it's heartbreaking to learn of yet another case of innocence lost because of a sexual predator, it's reassuring to learn of the continued dedication of special agents and our law enforcement partners in making sure this predator spends a long time in prison for his despicable crime," said FBI Tampa Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Rodney Crawford.
Thompson also pleaded guilty to charges he faced in Manatee County at the state level and he was sentenced to 40 years which will run concurrently with his other sentence.
Additionally, a Manatee County judge designated him a sexual predator and ordered lifetime sex offender probation if he is ever released.
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