U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Tampa, Florida  

Arrest Made for Production of Child Pornography

Carl Whitehead, Special Agent in Charge of the Tampa Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrest of James Carson Hice.

Mr. Hice, 65, was arrested on Thursday, October 12, 2006, by the FBI, Manatee County Sheriff's Office, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and Largo Police Department at his residence in Bradenton, Florida without incident. The predication of this investigation was based upon joint information received by Manatee County Sheriff's Office and Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Mr. Hice was arrested for violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251, sexual exploitation of children. Additionally, state charges will be filed.

The FBI's Innocent Images Task Force is a multi-agency task force comprised of the FBI, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Lakeland Police Department, Largo Police Department, Manatee County Sheriff's Office and the United States Probation Office. The Task Force is an intelligence driven, proactive investigative initiative to combat the proliferation of child pornography and child sexual exploitation facilitated by the Internet. The mission of the Innocent Images Task Force is to reduce the vulnerability of children to acts of sexual exploitation and abuse facilitated through computers; to identify and rescue witting and unwitting child victims; and to investigate and prosecute sexual predators who use the Internet to sexually exploit children for personal and financial gain.

The subject was afforded an initial appearance in federal court this afternoon and is being detained. If convicted of this charge, Mr. Hice faces 15-30 years in prison and a fine.