St. Johns County

SJSO: Mother finds explicit material on family acquaintance’s phone; man arrested for sex battery

ST JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a man who had explicit material on his phone of a child under the age of 12 and in just hours, deputies arrested 68-year-old Michael J. Meadors.

The operation began when a concerned mother found explicit material of her child on a family acquittance’s phone.

According to an arrest report, Meadors was a longtime friend of the family as well as the family lawyer.

While Action News Jax law and safety expert Dale Carson works in criminal defense, he says attorneys are in positions of trust, and it makes this arrest even more upsetting.

”It’s a tragedy, not only for the family but for the community. We want to be able to trust certain people who are in a position of authority and power in our lives,” Carson said. “And when you can’t those people, I think it hurts everyone. ”The child was staying the night under Meadors care for the evening Sunday when deputies said the sexual assault happened.

SJSO said Meadors recorded himself walking into a bedroom, where the child was sleeping, and touched the child inappropriately.

When the child’s mother found the video, deputies said she quickly called the sheriff’s office to report him.

SJSO’s special victim’s unit quickly responded to the incident and were able to collect evidence and talk Meadors into a meeting spot.

At the meeting spot, Meadors was arrested.

Meadors admitted to the sexual assault of the child, the report states, even after the child asked him to stop.

Meadors added, “I don’t know what’s the matter with me, I’m sorry,” and “I’m guilty. I did not do it every night,” the report stated.

According to the arrest report, it took about four hours from the time detectives first talked to Meadors until deputies were able to arrest him.

”It takes time to get the actual arrest warrant in place, there’s a lot that has to go on, the fact that it only took four hours for this to happen if that is in fact accurate is an indication that they wanted to get this matter handled quickly,” Carson said.

”They obviously believed the matter to be true, I’m talking about law enforcement and the state attorney’s office and they wanted to get the individual in custody immediately,” he added.

Meadors is charged with felony sexual assault. He’s being held in the St. Johns County jail with no bond.

CAPITAL SEXUAL BATTERY ARREST: On Tuesday, we received a call from a concerned parent stating she found explicit...

Posted by St. Johns County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, July 29, 2021