A former Pinellas Park teacher will spend the next two decades in federal prison after stepping right into an undercover FBI investigation.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Lee Hughes, 46, to 20 years in federal prison. The sentencing comes after his guilty plea on January 30, 2026, to various federal offenses, including attempted delivery of obscene material to a minor, attempted coercion and enticing of a minor, and receipt and possession of child sex abuse materials.
The arrest marked the conclusion of a months-long web probe. According to the Tampa Free Press, Hughes communicated with an undercover investigator online for months. Throughout those chats, Hughes was aware that the officer had a nine-year-old daughter.
According to court filings, Hughes expressed a special desire to sexually assault the fake girl during the talks. He also provided obscene images and videos of himself to the undercover agent and asked that they be presented to the child.
Hughes drove to a specific spot on May 1, 2025, anticipating engaging in sexual intercourse with the child, bringing the online charade to an end. Instead, FBI officers were waiting at the spot and arrested him right away.
Gregory W. Kehoe, the United States Attorney, announced the sentencing on Thursday. The FBI handled the whole investigation, while Assistant US Attorneys Abigail K. King and Courtney Derry oversaw the prosecution.
The arrest and eventual conviction were part of Project Safe Childhood, a countrywide Department of Justice initiative that began in May 2006. The program brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement resources to track down online child exploiters and rescue victims.
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