Newberry man sentenced to five years in prison on child pornography charges

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Joseph Paul Andes, 59, of Newberry, has been sentenced to five years in state prison after entering a plea of nolo contendere to 14 counts of possession of child pornography.

Andes was arrested on November 15, 2023, after an investigation into three CyberTips over the span of several months in 2022. A search warrant was served at his residence in Newberry on April 11, 2023, and post Miranda, Andes initially denied possessing any child sexual exploitation material. However, he said he was quite knowledgeable about how the investigations were conducted because he had served on a Federal Grand Jury overseeing similar investigations.

Digital forensic examiners conducted a search of his electronic devices and found recent searches for terms associated with child sexual abuse material. When asked about the searches, Andes said he didn’t know what the terms meant but suggested he was curious how easily he could find child sexual abuse material, so he searched for it but never found any. Andes only admitted to searches and denied ever finding illegal content.

When asked whether he had committed any hands-on offenses with children, he said, “No, as a matter of fact, I am around kids a lot because I am a soccer referee.”

After a number of child sexual abuse images were found on Andes’s electronic devices, he was arrested. Bail was set at $1.4 million, and he has remained in jail since his arrest. Following his plea, Judge David Kreider sentenced him to 14 concurrent sentences of five years in prison, with credit for 351 days served.