Southport Man Pleads Guilty to Transportation of Child Pornography

Tallahassee, Florida - John Massimiani, III, 66, of Southport, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of destruction or removal of property to prevent seizure. The plea was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: "Protecting vulnerable children by incapacitating the predators who peddle in child sexual abuse material remains of paramount importance, and is one of my office's top priorities. This successful prosecution vindicates the interests of the many innocent child victims depicted in the horrific images this defendant had in his possession, and we will continue to seek maximum justice to hold him and other predators accountable."

Court documents reflect that in November 2025, law enforcement responded to the defendant's residence in reference to a cybertip generated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The cybertip indicated that an image depicting child sexual abuse material had been uploaded to the internet from the defendant's residence. Law enforcement discussed the nature of the cybertip with the defendant who denied knowing about the image. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for the defendant's residence and located over 400 images depicting child sexual abuse material on electronic devices belonging to the defendant. A forensic analysis revealed that the defendant took numerous steps designed to delete the images from his electronic devices between the time that law enforcement first spoke with him about the cybertip and the time that law enforcement executed the search warrant.

Massimiani faces a mandatory minimum of 5 years' imprisonment and up to 20 years in prison for transportation of child pornography. He also faces up to a lifetime of supervision upon release. Massimiani faces a maximum of 5 years' imprisonment for destruction or removal of property to prevent seizure.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 15, 2027, at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida before United States District Judge Mark E. Walker.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bay County Sheriff's Office. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph A. Ravelo is prosecuting the case.

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. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood 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 Justice.gov/PSC.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation's principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of FloridaLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. website. For more information about the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl.