Former UF psychiatrist indicted on federal child pornography charges

Press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jesse Roger Armstrong, 35, of Gainesville, Florida, has been indicted in federal court for one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced the charges.

Click here for our article on Armstrong’s arrest in February 2025; he remains in the Alachua County jail.

Armstrong is scheduled for arraignment before United States Magistrate Judge Midori Lowry at the United States Courthouse in Gainesville, Florida on July 29, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.

If convicted, Armstrong faces up to 40 years’ imprisonment.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Gainesville Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam Hapner.

An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.