- April 26, 2024
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Sex offender Charles Swindell, 52, has been sentenced to 30 years in state prison for raping a teenage girl.
"I applaud the victim for speaking out so this guy can never prey on another child again."
— RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff
Swindell, a violent felon with a long criminal history, was arrested in October 2020. He'd raped the girl in his pickup truck multiple times over the course of a year until family members hid two iPads inside the truck and recorded the abuse.
Swindell, suspicious about the possibility that someone had placed a recording device in the vehicle, on one occasion made the victim search it before assaulting her, according to his arrest report.
She found both devices — but only showed him one, leaving the other set to record and creating an evidence trail that led to Swindell's arrest.
He pleaded guilty to three charges of rape of a minor child 12-18 years old by a person in familial or custodial authority, and Circuit Judge Terence Perkins sentenced him on March 31 to 30 years in prison — the maximum of the 15-30 year range Swindell and the State Attorneys Office had settled on in his plea agreement.
Swindell had a lengthy rap sheet at the time of his arrest in 2020.
He'd previously been arrested for crimes including child abuse — for a case in which he burned an 11-year-old boy's face with a pair of hot sunglasses — petit theft, burglary, dealing in stolen property, illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, witness tampering and aggravated battery.
Swindell will be designated as a sexual offender and predator.
“I hope this sentencing can bring some closure to the victim and her family,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in an FCSO news release. “I want to thank our Major Case Unit for all of their hard work in gathering the evidence that made this conviction and sentence possible. I also thank the judge for handing down a tough sentence to this disgusting pervert who will remain behind bars where he belongs. I applaud the victim for speaking out so this guy can never prey on another child again.”
Swindell is at the Flagler County jail awaiting extradition to the Florida Department of Corrections, according to the news release.
