Local man enters plea to charges of attempting to engage two children for sex

Historic City News was informed yesterday by the Department of Justice that a St Augustine man, 67-year-old Brian Ray Dunlap, pled guilty to attempting to entice two young children to engage in illegal sexual activity.  Dunlap faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10-years to life in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release.

According to court documents, on October 6, 2018, a detective with the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office, posing online as a custodial family member of two children, ages 9 and 12, received an email message from Dunlap, who identified himself as “Brian”.

“Between October 6, 2018, and October 9, 2018, Dunlap and the undercover detective exchanged emails and text messages about Dunlap’s desire to meet and engage in sexual activity with the children,” said Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown, who is prosecuting the case.

“I want to take their pictures naked and perform oral sex on them,” Dunlap, who said he was an amateur photographer, told the undercover detective.  Dunlap went on to provide graphic details about the sexual acts that he wanted to perform on the two “children”.  Dunlap offered to pay $200 for sex with them and pornographic pictures of the children.

Then on October 9, 2018, Dunlap traveled to a prearranged location in St. Johns County to meet the undercover detective and the two “children”. Upon his arrival, he was arrested. During an interview, Dunlap admitted that he had responded to the online notice posted by the undercover detective, had engaged in an online conversation with that person and that he had traveled to the location to meet that person and the two children.

This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.  A sentencing date has not yet been set.