Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – James Harold Major, 21, has been sentenced to 20 years in state prison, followed by 10 years of sex offender probation, after entering a plea of nolo contendere to 27 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communications device.

Major, who was a UF student and UF Health Patient Care Assistant, was arrested in October 2024 after Gainesville Police Department investigated a CyberTip about child sexual abuse material on a Google Drive account.

On August 28, Major entered a plea of nolo contendere to all of the charges, which have a maximum sentence of 839.3 years, according to the plea agreement. Judge James Colaw sentenced him to five concurrent 15-year prison sentences, followed by 11 concurrent 5-year prison sentences, and then followed by 11 concurrent sentences of 10 years of sexual offender probation. A five-year prison sentence on the charge of unlawful use of a two-way communications device will be served concurrently with the 10-year prison sentence. He will also be designated as a Sexual Offender.