PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — A Ponte Vedra Beach man was arrested Monday on multiple counts of possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
Detectives began investigating after they received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which was reported to them by Yahoo, on April 28. The tip stated that there were 12 uploaded files associated with the email address of Joshua Gumlia, 49.
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SJSO said the investigation was in collaboration with the Northeast Florida Inter-Agency Child Exploitation and Person Trafficking Task Force (NEFL INTERCEPT).
According to Gumlia’s arrest warrant, deputies made “multiple attempts” to contact him at his home. They then got him and “conducted an audio-recorded interview with him at the PGA Tour Performance Center TPC Sawgrass,” the arrest warrant said.
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Gumlia told investigators he had been locked out of his email and that they were there probably to talk to him about, “looking up something he shouldn’t have.”
The arrest warrant said that Gumlia, “stated he works with Jr. Golfers (kids) and then having to talk to Law Enforcement about something like this makes him disgusted with himself.”
According to the arrest warrant, he also stated, “he knows it is wrong and disgusting and reprehensible but he also feels like it’s a victimless crime.”
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A PGA TOUR spokesperson confirmed that Gumlia no longer works for TPC Sawgrass. Gumlia was still in the St. Johns County Jail on Tuesday afternoon on a total bond of $40,000.
SJSO encourages people to report human trafficking, child trafficking, or child sexual abuse material offenses immediately to SJSO or Federal law enforcement at 1-866-347-2423.
You can also remain anonymous by reporting the information to First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS, or report it to NCMEC through their tip line at 1-800-843-5678 or report it to them online at report.cybertip.org.
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