JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former Jacksonville sheriff's officer has been sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison after he pleaded guilty to child sex crimes in July.
Josue Garriga III, 34, was indicted in April on a federal charge that he enticed a 17-year-old girl he knew from church into “unlawful sexual activity.” He will be required to register as a sex offender, with a five-year term of supervised release.
While imposing the sentence, Judge Marcia Howard said that she considered the offense and the seriousness of the offense, when determining the length of time Garriga will serve in prison. Judge Howard also said that she hopes the sentence provides just punishment, prevents others from considering similar activity and protects the public from defendant.
“Mr. Garriga took advantage of a child who he knew was struggling, he knew she struggled with depression and this was the person Mr. Garriga used for his sexual gratification,” said Judge Howard during sentencing, “that’s not a mistake, that’s the act of a predator.”
“Why risk all of that,” asked Judge Howard of Garriga before imposing the sentence, “why hurt this child, why throw away your career, why risk your family and son and daughter that you love? None of that was important enough for you to stop engaging in a 6-8 month course of conduct to risk your family and your livelihood.”
Howard also said that Garriga did the right thing by pleading guilty for two reasons. First, she said that it spared the 17 year old victim from reliving his actions and recounting them to a jury. But secondly, by pleading guilty it allowed the court to impose a sentence within a guideline ranging from a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison to 395 months.
“Mr. Garriga doubled down, used his law enforcement resources to communicate with the child so her pastor and parents wouldn’t know,” said Judge Howard, “that shows the wrongfulness of the path he was going down and knew early on that this was a dangerous path for him. And that’s why he set up the messages to autodelete after 24 hours because he knew what he was doing was a crime that he chose to commit over and over again when he asked the child to create child pornography and groomed a child to defile herself.”
The defense did not argue against any of the factual evidence of the case. Garriga already pleaded guilty to the charges, but Garriga’s attorney did argue against a vulnerable victim enhancement to Garriga’s sentence, because they said those cases normally deal with a dependency of the victim.
The state disagreed with that and said Garriga used JSO resources to find the victim on social media and used an app that could delete communication between himself and the victim.
The government said the standard to prove a vulnerable victim is not a high bar and that Garriga knew the victim was vulnerable due to her age and mental condition to be susceptible to his conduct.
The government also says that Garriga placed himself in a mentorship role and placed himself in a position of authority and trust to then try to engage in a sexual relationship with the victim.
Howard ultimately overruled the defense’s objection to the vulnerable victim enhancement by saying, “When you look at the totality of the circumstances this young woman was particularly susceptible to Garriga’s sexual prey on her vulnerability, and the guideline application does apply.”
The mother of the victim addressed the court in a victim impact statement and said, “My main concern is that he will not be able to harm my daughter or any young girl in the future."
Seven people - in addition to Garriga - spoke on his behalf to ask the court for mercy.
"Never in my life have I done anything harmful or thought about doing something harmful to children, I would never harm a child in my life, I apologize and ask for forgiveness," Garriga said.
He said he pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him to not drag the victim’s family through the rigors of a trial.
Leadup to Garriga's arrest
A press release from the Department of Justice says Garriga met the victim, a 17-year-old girl, at church in 2023.
The agency said until March 7, 2024, he pursued a sexual relationship with her, including "reaching up the child victim's skirt while she worked serving coffee before church service."
A federal compliant said the victim's parent noticed the victim's demeanor toward Garriga during a church service and later took photos from the victim's phone of exchanges between Garriga and the victim, providing them to law enforcement. He used his JSO-issued cell phone and an "undercover" Instagram account to reach out to the victim in order to get her phone number.
The Clay County Sheriff's Office found 305 interactions between Garriga and the victim on her cell phone. The DOJ says Garriga video chatted the victim over FaceTime over 120 times, including while she was showering.
He used his JSO work vehicle to visit her neighborhood to "engage in sexual contact" with her. He also met with her at a coffee shop in Clay County and "engaged in unlawful sexual activity with the child victim and refuse to let her leave until she performed oral sex on him," in his JSO vehicle, the DOJ release states.
Garriga was arrested in Clay County on March 27 on charges of unlawful activity with certain minors, lewd touching of certain minors, travelling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual activity, unlawful use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony and transmission of harmful material to a minor.
In June, prosecutors and Garriga's defense lawyer sparred over the use of photos on his work phone and other potential evidence.
Garriga's state level case in Clay County has a pre-trial hearing scheduled for Dec. 17.
Jamee Johnson officer-involved shooting
Garriga shot and killed Florida A&M student Jamee Johnson, 22, in 2019. He pulled Johnson over for a seatbelt violation.
The State Attorney's Office ruled Garriga justified in shooting Johnson. Black Lives Matter activists and activists against police brutality protested in Jacksonville and in Tallahassee.
Johnson's family sued Garriga and then-Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, contesting Garriga's version of events.
Garriga argued Johnson was reaching for a weapon, while Johnson's family said bodycam footage showed no evidence. Their attorney said Johnson's autopsy didn't show the bullet trajectory matching Garriga's story.
Body camera footage showed Johnson pleading for his life after Garriga shot him four times.
In November 2023, before the suit could go to trial, the city of Jacksonville settled with Johnson's family, paying out $200,000. Waters said he would have rather taken the case before a jury and disagreed with this decision.
Johnson's mother Kimberly Strickland said though it had been four years since his death, life has not gotten any easier.
She remembered her son as a fun and loving young man who had a bright future ahead of him.
“He loved everybody. He would give you the shirt off his back. He had a smile that lit up the room when he walked in it," Strickland said.
The arrest of Le'Keian Woods
In late September 2023, a video of the brutal arrest of 23-year-old Le'Keian Woods went viral on social media. Woods's family said the incident bore "a striking similarity" to the traffic stop where Johnson was killed -- Woods was also stopped for a seatbelt violation.
A mugshot of Woods went viral with his eyes swollen shut when he was booked into Duval County Jail. When Woods was later transferred to another jail, with his eyes less swollen, his eyes were filled with blood.
Garriga was the one who called officers to the scene. He said he saw Woods engaged in suspicious behavior at a gas station before he got into his car, so he followed him. Garriga noticed the driver of the car was not wearing a seatbelt, giving officers reason to pull Woods over, according to a report.
After the car was stopped, Woods fled from the traffic stop and was tased twice before falling to the ground. Police records said Woods strenuously resisted attempts by officers to handcuff him, and was struck at least 17 times, including punches and “unintentional knee strikes” to his face. Garriga was named as one of the officers involved in the brutal arrest, and can be seen in bodycam footage.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said all of the officers were cleared.
"There was force used by the arresting detectives, and yes, that force is ugly, but the reality is that all force, all violence is ugly," he said, but clarified that ugly does not mean unlawful.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund condemned the arrest in a lengthy statement. Protestors gathered in front of City Hall for several days after the arrest.
In April 2024, two of the three charges against Woods were dropped. Woods pleaded guilty to resisting an officer without violence and was credited with time served in the Duval County Jail, as charges of drug possession and tampering with evidence were dropped.
Woods' family filed a federal lawsuit on Oct. 31, seeking at least $100,000 from each of the arresting officers in his case.
JSO Gang unit group chat
Garriga was a member of a group chat where seemingly-racist tweets and texts were exchanged by members of the JSO Gang Unit.
All of the officers in the chat were cleared in an internal investigation by JSO.
In the thread, which was started by Sgt. Doug Howell, officers discussed an NFL ceremony honoring Johnson. After several officers bemoaned the ceremony, Garriga wrote: “Goes to show no matter how wrong they are, they still will be recognized just because they are Black.”
A summary of the messages investigated by JSO's Internal Affairs department can be found by clicking here.
Shooting of Andrew Anthony Williams
In 2015, while working for the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, Garriga was one of four deputies who fired on Andrew Anthony Williams during a drug bust.
Williams was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after.