A facial recognition database run by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office led to the wrongful arrest of a Jacksonville father on child sex crime charges.

The case cost the man and his family $45,000 in lost wages and legal fees and forced him to live apart from his two young children for months, according to an investigation by The Florida Trib, first reported Monday. The investigation centers on FACESNXT, a system the Pinellas sheriff's office has maintained since 2001. The database holds roughly 15 million mug shots and 25 million driver's license photos, and 221 local, state and federal agencies use it.

How an innocent father ended up in jail

The man, identified only as Nick, is a 38-year-old supermarket assistant manager and father of two. Jacksonville Sheriff's Office deputies arrested him in May 2025 during a multiagency sting called Operation Rescue Our Children. He was charged with soliciting a child via computer and unlawful use of a two-way communications device, both third-degree felonies carrying up to five years in prison.

The actual perpetrator was Richard Steven Cook, a Jacksonville resident with a prior conviction for soliciting minors. Court records show Cook used photos of Nick, stolen from social media, to impersonate him on the Skout dating app while messaging an undercover officer he believed was a 13-year-old girl. Cook has red hair. Nick does not.

Investigators told Nick they relied on facial recognition to identify him in the photos. The Florida Trib found no indication in court documents that officers did any other investigative work before making the arrest.

Nick spent a night in jail. A court then barred him from any contact with his two children, the youngest 7 months old, for a month and a half. For nearly three months he lived with his mother-in-law, wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor.

"Somebody needs to be held accountable for what they're doing to people," Nick told The Florida Trib.

The day after the arrest, investigators issued subpoenas that confirmed the suspect's online account belonged to Cook. Cook was still living at the same address where Jacksonville deputies had arrested him in 2018. Officers did not confront Cook until July 31, 2025, when he confessed. Prosecutors dropped charges against Nick the next day, and a judge ordered his case expunged on Aug. 4, 2025.

Sheriff's office blames officers, not the technology

The Pinellas sheriff's office's own rules state that FACESNXT results are investigative leads only and do not constitute probable cause. But a federal lawsuit filed June 10 by the American Civil Liberties Union in a separate wrongful-arrest case alleges the office's guidelines lack transparency and oversight mechanisms. The complaint names Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri in his official capacity as the final policymaker over FACESNXT's operation.

In a 2016 Georgetown Law study, Gualtieri was asked whether his office audited searches for misuse. His answer, according to Wired: "No, not really."

In a June 12 statement responding to the ACLU lawsuit, the sheriff's office said its training makes clear that FACESNXT is an investigative tool only and that results should never be treated as confirmed identifications. The office called the situation a failure of the officers involved, not of the technology, WFLA reported.

The sheriff's office has not issued any public statement about Nick's case specifically.

One of at least 15 wrongful arrests nationwide

Nick's case is not isolated. The ACLU says it is among at least 15 known wrongful arrests nationwide attributed to facial recognition. Andrew Ferguson, a professor at George Washington University Law School who reviewed court documents for The Florida Trib, called it a failure of policing rather than technology, noting officers skipped basic digital verification that would have identified Cook.

Nick's expunged case records, including his home address and workplace, remained on the Duval County courts website for more than a year after the judge's order. The clerk's office removed them only after The Florida Trib began asking questions. Cook pleaded guilty earlier this year and was sentenced to 40 months in prison. Nick and his wife, Rebekah, were never notified of Cook's arrest or sentencing.