Joel Searby sentenced to 10 years in prison in plea deal
Staff report
ARCHER, Fla. – Joel Bruce Searby, 44, who led the Newberry charter school initiative until his arrest, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in state prison, followed by ten years of sex offender probation, after pleading to 12 felonies related to sexual crimes against children.
On June 19, 2024, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office received a call about Snapchat messages from Searby to a 15-year-old boy, asking him to come over to his guest house and help him with something. Searby reportedly sent shirtless photos, along with a picture of himself in the shower and messages about his own sexual experiences with an older man when he was in high school. Click here for more information about Searby’s arrest.
On June 10, Searby entered an open plea of nolo contendere to charges of traveling to meet a minor, using a computer to solicit a minor, lewd and lascivious conduct, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, and eight counts of possession of child pornography. Four counts of possession of child pornography were dropped as part of the plea agreement. According to the plea document, the maximum sentence for the charges is 80 years in state prison.
According to Searby’s score sheet, the minimum permissible sentence was 90.6 months.
On June 12, Judge William Davis sentenced Searby to two sentences of 10 years in prison and two sentences of five years in prison on the first four charges, all running concurrently, followed by five years of sex offender probation. Judge Davis added an additional five years of probation, served after the first five years, for the child pornography charges. Searby will also be designated a sexual offender.
Just disgusting, oh my. Sickening!
What’s sickening? That he got a reasonable sentence?
hopefully some of the other inmates help achieve justice in this case
They will.
The behavior DeeDee and ACPS are encouraging is an abomination that taxpayers should be held accountable for by law suit. Our Constitution supposedly protects us all from “cruel and unusual” punishment and we own the jails. The victims of this could be your 20 year old son picked up for public drunkenness.
How anyone who thinks they are civilized and moral but tolerates this, let alone encourages it, are neither.
usual suspect for a pedo case, shocker
Concurrent sentences are bs
10 years is too easy of a sentence, but I thought the white , GOP connected guy would get off (no pun intended) so I guess it’s a wash.
That’s why I say the sentence is reasonable. I honestly thought they’d give him the minimum, which was 5 years or worse, a slap on the wrist
They should put him in a crocker sack and let those affected play pinata with it, with Lucille.
A Maggat, Republican is who Joel is…
And this is the Maggat who led Newberry School Campaign.
SHAME ON ALL of you that support this Charter School.
You same hypocrites blast ACPS.
Yet look one of your own is a PEDOPHILE.
Sickening.
The same ACPS who let him coach basketball at OVMS? The same ACPS who let him chaperone 5th graders in DC?
Those who cast the first stone…the charter folks messed up by trusting him but so did ACPS
A maggat who hates trump? Curious…
Do a little research before you open your pie hole. He was in the Forward Party that was started by Andrew Yang in 2021,Yang was a democrat from 95-21. Searby was actually stumping for them trying to help that party grow.
My initial reply to you was censored but suffice it to say I find your comment rather incoherent, disjointed.
None of your comments before this one were deleted. As I’ve said repeatedly, please be patient when comments go to moderation.
Also, thought Joel identified as a ” Christian, married man. ”
Hypicrite, Evangelical maggats !
No Felons for Potus.
IMPEACH
CONVICT
REMOVE
Their Fake, King Chump !
NO KINGS IN THE U.S.
Searby hates trump but don’t let facts get in the way of your rant
He tell you that when y’all were hanging out
Never hung out with him and he never coached my kids at OVMS, thankfully
I guess we’ve already forgotten he was democratically elected in a landslide election a few months ago. An election that the left STILL just can’t process. Thought you were cute with all your silly DEI laws and now you’re shocked when the pendulum swung HARD the other direction. Enjoy 3.5 more years! LOL!!!!!!
6th Street was quite a spectacle today. The usual mix of the clueless elderly and those who look like they got beat upside the head with the LGBT ugly stick.
… well, at least they were actually peaceful. I’ll take Gainesville’s “clueless elderly” and the LGBTQ+ers over those who throw bricks, etc
Arrest anyone protesting that wears a mask. Why hide your identity if your cause is true.
Did you know many folks wear a mask due to Health challenges and high pollen ?
No felons : you TDS lefty nutjobs get triggered so easy! Those sick protesters with mask face diapers on should stay home and be super heroes and not spread their filthy germs around…I know they are just covering up their ugly! Pollen my ass. They are covering their faces because they are bad people and don’t want to be identified by facial recognition .
Criminals wear masks when they do their crimes so they can’t be ID’d. All protesters blocking traffic should be arrested and have to post bond and that will put an end to their lefty nutjob commie lunacy.
OK genius, now explain ICE agents wearing masks.
Never did before Covid. Dumb comment
To Cheers & maggats:
Your comment is a lie.
Chump did NOT win by a landslide it was rigged by Elon & Russia.
ONE PERCENT, IS NOT a landslide.
And, millions of Blue votes were NOT counted by the maggats that did illegal voter purging, blowing up ballot boxes, attacking Voters, attacking and calling in bomb threats to Voter Locations, Intimidating & Threatening Voters at Voting Sites, Attacking Legislators, violent assailts andd downright bullying tactics.
✨That was all on you, maggats the same kind that post here.
✨All maggats your time will arrive very soon when your sick cult falls and your fake king _&++” is REMOVED.
✊Not too mention every single Kind, Peaceful Country in The World can NOT stand Chump or maga.
☮️In Gainesville & Alachua County you lil, maggats will always be OUTNUMBERED.
🤦The only Violent Infiltrator today at The No Kings Rally was a maggat !
🙏That was removed by GPD, Thankfully !
✨Stop drinking the koolaid maggats !
🌺Any Human with a Brain, a Kind 💚 & Conscience did NOT Vote for Chump & is NOT a maggat.
IMPEACH 45
CONVICT 45
REMOVE 45
NOW
TRUMP WON YOU LOST. Get over your TDS with professional mental health.
Bear you clown, your cult leader is breaking 1 law after another and insists on being in our face everyday – he’s hard to ignore, so if anyone has TDS, it’s his cult followers like you who somehow think the only person to solve our problems was a despicable human being who’s statements are more than half complete lies he just made up. The problem is, he’s lying to you too and you either don’t care or are too dim to know it.
Seek help.
BS Cheers. He was elected, but barely. Most Americans who voted, voted for someone else than Trump, and he beat Harris by less votes than both Hillary and Biden beat him.
No mandate!
While u were voting for the freak Gillum.
@ MAGA: You are downright sick dude. Your comments are silly and boarder on idiotic. You are however, amusing.
This article is better than most I’ve read in terms of details for Searby’s sentencing, but I wish that journalists would help the laypeople following the case by explaining the “score sheet” and the judge’s rationale for giving this predator 10 years when he was facing 80.
The score sheet is a complex form that lists points for each chart with various adjustments (you can find it in the Docket tab in the court records for Searby’s case). Sentences in plea deals are typically much shorter than the maximum; however, at least in this circuit, if a defendant opts to go to trial and is found guilty by a jury, they will often face the maximum sentence (that was the case in the 90-year sentence mentioned in one of the other comments).
Thank you for this reply. This is the link where I’ve been looking for information in this case; can you tell me if I’m looking in the right place for the Docket tab? https://www.alachuaclerk.org/court_records/index.cfm?section=menu
Links to the court website don’t work because the CAPTCHA clears the search, but you want case 01-2024-CF-002088-A. Click on the Docket tab, and Score Sheet is one of the many documents posted on 6/12/2025, just above the Petition to Plea
Thank you
Well, Alachua County School Board thought enough of him to approve his “Charter School”. I really feel for the incoming students. So glad my kids are out of the Alachua County school system. Which was exemplary when they attended in the ‘90’s. The idea of taking tax payer money for a far right Christian school with no chance of a diversified education with the possibility of being sexually exploited, is just sad
Usual suspect