Sexual predator Jeffrey Lashley of Cedar Key sentenced to 30 year for child phonography
Levy County Sheriff's Office (LCSO)
On August 27, 2025, 65 year-old Jeffrey Lashley, of Cedar Key, Florida entered an open plea in Levy County Circuit Court to Judge William Davis, seeking leniency in the case against him. Judge Davis sentenced Lashley to a prison term of 30 years in the Florida Department of Corrections.
In 1996, Lashley was convicted of lewd and lascivious battery, which resulted in him being designated as a sexual offender in the State of Florida. In 2004, Lashley was again arrested for sexually based crimes against children, and again convicted on the charges, which resulted in his being designated as a sexual offender/predator for life.
On July 1, 2025, Lashley was arrested for numerous violations of his sexual predator registration requirements, which were discovered when Detective Cody Weaver performed a sexual predator compliance check at Lashley's Cedar Key residence.
Detective Weaver located a smart phone in Lashley’s possession that had not been registered with the Levy County Sheriff's Office, which is a registration requirement of a sexual predator.
A forensic search of Lashley's phone showed that Lashley had multiple social media applications installed on the phone; sexual predators are legally obligated to disclose to law enforcement any social media sites subscribed to. Lashley's phone contained numerous images of child sexual abuse material that he later admitted he'd downloaded from the internet. Lashley phone also contained photos of juvenile females in bathing suits, recently taken at several public places within the local community.
At Lashley's home, detectives also seized numerous paper notebooks that contained writings detailing stories or fantasies of Lashley performing sexual acts on both male and female children between the ages of four to ten years of age.