Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
A former Monticello police officer is facing between 15 and 350 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to multiple child sex abuse charges, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Florida.
In a press release dated Sept. 23, John P. Heekin, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced that Keagan Garrett Bohlinger, 26, of Monticello, had on that same day pleaded guilty in federal court to 11 counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography from the internet.
“It is one of my office’s top priorities to target and aggressively prosecute anyone who sexually exploits and victimizes a child,” Heekin said in the press release. “The fact that this defendant served as a public safety officer makes the commission of his heinous crimes even more egregious, and my office will pursue maximum punishment to achieve justice for the minor victim.”
According to court records, Bohlinger, who was arrested here in February, sexually abused a young child and produced multiple videos and images of the sexual abuse on three occasions in January 2026. He also, according to the court records, was at the time in possession of videos and images of child pornography that had been downloaded from the internet.
Bohlinger, the U.S. Attorney's Office reports, now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 350 years, which includes up to 30 years per production count, and 20 years for possession, all of which could potentially run consecutively.
“After his release from prison, the defendant will be a registered sex offender and will be sentenced to supervised release for at least five years and up to life,” the press release states.
Sentencing for Bohlinger is set for Dec. 11 in the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee before United States District Judge Mark E. Walker.
Bohlinger was still in his probationary period with the Monticello Police Department when he was terminated on Feb. 2, after an investigation by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) found multiple images and videos containing child pornography on his computer.
The JCSO investigation was initiated when dispatch received a call from a woman claiming that she had found pornography on her boyfriend’s computer.
The case subsequently involved Homeland Security Investigations and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.