Convicted Child Sex Offender Sent to Florida State Prison to Serve Five-Year Prison Sentence

Earlier this month, Brendan Daniel Dinkins, 28, was transferred to Florida State Prison to serve his five-year prison sentence for sending pictures of his genitals to a child. Dinkins was convicted of ten counts of sending harmful material to a minor, and his prison sentence will be followed by five years of sex offender probation. 

On May 2, 2025, the 15-year-old victim contacted the Gainesville Police Department to report that she and Dinkins had been communicating since the summer of 2024. The victim said that Dinkins, who knew her age, routinely solicited nude photographs of her and sent nude photos of his own. The victim provided Dinkins’ name and social media information and was able to pick him out of a lineup. 

In a later in-person interview with police, the victim disclosed that Dinkins frequently asked her to meet in person for sex but they never did. She said she decided to report it after Dinkins blocked her on Snapchat and she feared he still possessed graphic images of herself. The victim added that Dinkins communicated with her on Facebook Messenger as well but she deleted their communications a long time ago out of concern someone would find them and she would get in trouble.

Detective Christopher King reported:

“On July 31, 2025, I contacted [Dinkins] at his residence… I asked [Dinkins] if he would speak with me in my unmarked vehicle which was parked beside his residence. [Dinkins] agreed… During this conversation, Detective Montague was present.

I read [Dinkins] his Miranda rights and he agreed to speak with me. I explained to [Dinkins] that we received a report in May from a young girl who feared that he may be in possession of her photographs. I told [Dinkins] of a portion of [her] Snapchat username as a way to see if he recalled her. [Dinkins] stated he recalled the situation but did not ‘leak’ or ‘expose’ her in any way. When asked what kind of images he could have exposed or leaked, [Dinkins] eventually explained images of [the unclothed victim]... 

[Dinkins] provided two nicknames for [the victim], one of which is consistent with her name and linked to her identity. I then showed [Dinkins] a [Driver And Vehicle Information Database] ID card image of [the victim] and he confirmed we were talking about the same [person]. [Dinkins] confirmed that he and [the victim] began talking in July/August of 2024. [Dinkins] stated that the two talked nearly every day until May of 2025. [Dinkins] claimed that he no longer possessed nude images or videos of [the victim]. I asked if he would be okay with Detective Montague searching through his cellphone and cloud-based accounts, such as Snapchat, to see if any of [the victim’s] content was saved to his device. [Dinkins] agreed… Montague would locate 19 images/videos of [Dinkins]’ penis or masturbation videos which he sent to [the victim] via Snapchat; this content dated back to September of 2024… Montague also saw where [Dinkins] was reaching out to [the victim] as recent as the last 24 hours, but [she] had not been responding. [Dinkins] admitted to sending [the victim] videos of himself masturbating and acknowledged that the two exchanged sexually graphic content pretty early on into their communications.

I asked [Dinkins] if they ever met in person and he stated no. I asked why… and [Dinkins] responded that for reasons such as ‘legal,’ the ‘age gap’ and that he was ‘way too old.’ [Dinkins] also reported that morally he knew this was wrong. I then asked [Dinkins] how old he believed [the victim] to be, and he stated 16 or 17; I would tell [Dinkins] she was 15 at the time of their communications. [Dinkins] stated that if he could go back in time he would not have done this. I asked [Dinkins] how old one would need to be to send him nude content, and he stated 18 years old…

Images of younger unknown females were located on [Dinkins]’ phone in a ‘hidden’ folder. When questioned [about their age], [Dinkins] reported 18 or 19. However, [Dinkins] stated she was possibly 17 when the two began communicating.”

The arrest report states that police were unable to locate communication records after serving search warrants on Snapchat and Facebook Messenger.

The case was resolved with a plea agreement between Dinkins' legal counsel and the Eighth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office. Dinkins pleaded no-contest and prosecutors agreed to drop eight out of the 18 pending charges. The plea deal was signed by Assistant State Attorney Darla Whistler and Dinkins was represented by J. Pierce Senkarik of Musca Law. Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard accepted the agreement. Dinkins is scheduled to be released on July 20, 2030.