Shannon Jermaine Hollingsworth
Introduction
Shannon Jermaine Hollingsworth is a 45-year-old man from St. Augustine, Florida, whose federal trial ended in a guilty plea. On 28 October 2026, the Justice Department announced that Hollingsworth had pleaded guilty to attempted sex trafficking of a child on the second day of his trial. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, he had arranged to pay $120 to have sex with someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl and traveled to Palm Beach County to meet with her. The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida and José R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami. Hollingsworth faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
Background Information
Per court records and evidence presented at trial, Hollingsworth arranged to pay $120 to have sex with a person he believed was 15 years old. He then traveled to the agreed-upon location in Palm Beach County to meet with her. According to the release, he arrived carrying cash and a condom. The mechanics of the scheme were direct: a set price for sex with someone he believed to be a child, an arranged meeting place, and a trip — with payment in hand — to keep the appointment.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Pleaded guilty; sentencing pending. Hollingsworth admitted attempted sex trafficking of a child on the second day of his federal trial; the court has not yet imposed a sentence.
The incident at the core of the case, as described in the release, began with an arrangement: Hollingsworth agreed to pay $120 to have sex with someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl, and a meeting was set in Palm Beach County. According to court records and the evidence presented at trial, he followed through on his side of the plan, traveling to the agreed-upon location and arriving carrying cash and a condom. The government’s case, as summarized by prosecutors, rested on those facts: the agreed payment, the trip to Palm Beach County, and what he brought with him when he came.
That account of why he was there did not hold. Following his arrest, according to the release, Hollingsworth claimed that he had traveled to the location to rescue the child and was “just about to call” the police. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones addressed that claim directly when the plea was announced: “When confronted, he claimed he was there to rescue her. But that claim could not withstand the evidence presented by our prosecutors, and on the second day of trial, he pleaded guilty.”
The case therefore ended in a conviction by plea rather than a jury verdict. On the second day of trial, Hollingsworth pleaded guilty to attempted sex trafficking of a child — an admission, entered in open court, that he attempted to pay for sex with someone he believed was a 15-year-old child and traveled to Palm Beach County to do it, arriving with cash and a condom. The rescue story he offered after his arrest played no part in the outcome beyond being rebutted by the evidence.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The documented response has been institutional. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida announced the plea together with José R. Figueroa, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami. Reding Quiñones said: “Shannon Jermaine Hollingsworth came to Palm Beach County with cash and a condom, intending to pay for sex with someone he believed was a 15-year-old child.” He added that the department “will continue working shoulder to shoulder with our law enforcement partners to protect children and bring those who seek to exploit them to justice.” The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Justice Department initiative launched in May 2006 that marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet. For Hollingsworth, the immediate consequence is the plea itself, on a charge carrying a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison.
Current Status
Hollingsworth has pleaded guilty but has not yet been sentenced. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in federal prison; per the release, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. No sentencing date was announced. HSI Miami and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case, with assistance from the West Palm Beach Police Department, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Chapman and Daniel Funk are prosecuting. Related court documents may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida, under case number 26-cr-80031.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The release does not describe Hollingsworth’s occupation, but the shape of his immediate future is now set by the criminal process: a guilty plea to attempted sex trafficking of a child, a charge that carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison. Because the plea came on the second day of trial, it stands on his own admission in court rather than a jury’s verdict. What remains is sentencing, where a federal judge will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, and whatever term emerges — up to life — will define the next chapter of his life.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, “St. Augustine Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Child on Second Day of Trial” — source