Michael Paul Gillis, 64, of Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, United States has been arrested. He was charged with possessing a computer disk drive containing videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.
From August 1991 to August 2007, Gillis worked for Duval County Public Schools as a teacher. On January 31, 2022, a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent applied for and obtained a federal search warrant for the premises of Gillis’s house in Jackson.
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Gillis has been living in that house since January 1994. He has a Dell laptop computer and a Dell desktop computer that he uses to connect to the internet, which he has had at the residence for the past five or six years.
According to the FBI agent, Gillis has used both his laptop and his desktop computer to download child pornography. He did acknowledge it is illegal and immoral, the agent reported.
“I know I shouldn’t do it,” Gillis told the agent. “It’s a fantasy.”
While employed as a teacher, Gillis was watching child pornography. He acknowledged that by watching such material, he contributes to something that harms children.
Still, Gillis believes that he is not a danger to anyone. He claimed that although he fantasized about touching a child, he never acted on it and never took inappropriate photos of a child.
On February 2, 2022, FBI agents arrested Gillis at his home in Jackson. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a potential lifetime term of supervised release.
Jacksonville was incorporated on February 9, 1832. It is the seat of Duval County and the most populous city in Florida.
The city’s incumbent and eighth mayor Lenny Curry, 51, assumed office on July 1, 2015 and was reelected on March 19, 2019. His term will end on March 21, 2023 and he is not legible to run for reelection.
CONAN Daily 