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In a troubling turn of events, Tony Leroy Bartley Jr., a former pre-kindergarten teacher from Ponte Vedra Beach, found himself on the wrong side of the law after falling into an FBI sting operation. Bartley, who is 37 years old and hails from Jacksonville, was arrested in August 2025. His arrest came after he engaged in sexually explicit conversations and attempted to lure someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl into a sexual liaison. Unbeknownst to him, the “girl” was in fact an undercover federal agent.
In a court ruling that underscores the gravity of his actions, Bartley was handed a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. This sentence, delivered in January after Bartley entered a guilty plea, was announced by the Department of Justice. Beyond his prison term, Bartley faces a decade of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender, reflecting the serious nature of his crimes.
The case began to unfold in July 2025, when Bartley, operating under the username “keven,” initiated contact with the undercover agent on a social media platform whose name has not been disclosed. During their exchanges, the agent presented themselves as a young teenager. Bartley, in response, moved the conversation into a sexual context, proposing to exchange explicit messages. The Department of Justice detailed that Bartley not only described the sexual acts he wished to carry out but also sent a sexually explicit photograph, sealing his fate when the truth of the situation was revealed.
The DOJ says that Bartley, under the username “keven,” exchanged messages with an undercover FBI agent on an undisclosed social media platform in July 2025.
When the agent claimed to be a 13-year-old girl, Bartley suggested that they text sexually. Through the exchanged messages, the DOJ said Bartley described “sexual acts he wanted to perform” and sent an explicit photo.
According to the DOJ, Bartley was arrested by FBI agents on Aug. 5, 2025. During an interview, Bartley is said to have confirmed that he had exchanged messages having to do with sexual activity with someone underage.
“I should have stopped at 13, and that’s on me,” Bartley said.