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Court records show that a former Jacksonville Jaguars contractor received a 220-year sentence in federal prison for producing child sexual abuse material. However, that’s only the tip of the iceberg for Samuel Arthur Thomspon’s transgressions.
Aside from possessing and producing images of children engaged in sexual activity, he also violated the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act for failing to register as a child molester.
Court documents revealed that Thompson was found guilty of second-degree sodomy on a 14-year-old boy in Alabama in 1998, requiring him to register as an offender.
However, he fled to the Philippines to avoid conviction for the crime. He was arrested in 2020 after authorities in the Southeast Asian country deported him to the United States. Sex offenders like him are also required by law to report any international travel.
According to a criminal complaint, the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered that he fled to the archipelago nine days after conducting a search warrant at his home. Aside from the discovery, they also seized computers that contained the illegal images and videos he produced a month before the raid.
Aside from the Philippines, he also traveled to the Bahamas in July 2019, which he was mandated to reveal. Meanwhile, his neighbors revealed to First Coast News in 2020 that Thompson lived with his wife and his stepchild in St. Augustine, Florida, for several years.
Former Jaguars employee committed a multitude of crimes
Meanwhile, a Jacksonville federal judge also found Thompson guilty of relaying unauthorized commands to a protected computer.
He committed the crime when the Jaguars hired him in 2013 as a consultant for designing and installing their video board network. The team retained him to operate their jumbotron.
The Jaguars didn't renew his contract in 2018 after learning about his conviction and his sex offender status. Prosecutors divulged that Thompson installed remote access software on an extra server in the team’s server room.
This computer program allowed him to control the jumbotron in three games during the 2018 season, causing it to malfunction. The team eventually learned about the extra server and removed access to the jumbotron. Likewise, the FBI traced network information to Thompson’s home the next time he accessed the server.
The FBI seized the tablet and laptops Thompson used to remote access the Jaguars’ jumbotron, as the device’s log files reflect. Finally, he was also guilty of possessing a firearm, which is illegal for convicted felons. Federal agents also retrieved the gun during the July 2019 raid.
