Former UF Health Psychiatrist Serving Sex Offense Sentence at Low Security Federal Prison
Jesse Roger Armstrong, 35, recently began serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Armstrong is currently held at the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institute, a low-security facility.
Armstrong's sentencing form states he may be transferred to another low security facility in Ohio.
Armstrong was employed as a psychiatrist at UF Health when he was arrested.
Armstrong has a profile on WebMD that states he graduated from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine in 2023.
According to a press release published by the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) after Armstrong’s arrest, they served a search warrant at his residence with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office on December 12, 2024.
GPD received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating that a Microsoft Bing user later identified as Armstrong uploaded images of child sexual abuse material to their search engine.
The press release states, “During a post Miranda interview, Armstrong stated that no one had access to his internet at the time of the incident reported in the CyberTip. Armstrong revealed that he uses Microsoft Bing, approximately three times a week, to reverse image search pornography. When suggested that the images from the CyberTip, that were reverse image searched, were done by him because he didn't think them to be juveniles, Armstrong stated, ‘it's possible.’ When Armstrong was asked if he had ever reverse image searched content that would be age questionable, he stated, ‘Not intentionally.’ Armstrong asked several times that Detective Montague take him to jail despite there not being further evidence at the time to establish probable cause for Armstrong’s arrest.”
Unable to establish probable cause for an arrest, detectives seized all of Armstrong’s electronic devices. “Over the course of the next two months, a forensic analysis of Armstrong's electronic devices revealed that he was in possession of child sexual abuse material,” the press release states.
On February 16, 2025, GPD arrested Armstrong and charged him with ten counts of possessing child sexual abuse material and three counts of animal cruelty for possessing sexual abuse material involving animals.
At the time of his arrest, Armstrong’s charges were being leveled by state prosecutors in Alachua County court.
On July 25, 2025, federal prosecutors indicted Armstrong on one count of possessing and one count of distributing child sexual abuse material, with the government later dismissing the former as part of the plea deal.
On August 12, 2025, state prosecutors dropped Armstrong’s charges.
On October 29, 2025, Armstrong submitted a guilty plea in federal court.
The plea agreement states federal prosecutors “will not file any further criminal charges against the defendant arising out of the same transactions or occurrences to which the defendant has pled… Nothing in this agreement shall protect the defendant in any way from prosecution for any offense committed after the date of this agreement.”
On January 13, 2026, Armstrong was sentenced by Northern Florida District Chief Judge Allen Winsor following a pre-sentence investigation.
Armstrong will be placed under federal supervised release for 25 years after he gets out of prison.
Under the conditions of his supervision, Armstrong will not be allowed to use the internet without prior approval from his probation officer. Armstrong's probation officer will be permitted to randomly inspect his electronic devices.
One of his supervision conditions prevents Armstrong from having contact with children or frequenting within 100 feet of a location where children are likely to gather.
Armstrong will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release.
