Jacksonville police: Officer charged with capital sexual battery on victim younger than 12

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 9-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has been arrested and charged with capital sexual battery involving a young girl under the age of 12.

The Sheriff's Office received information that Matthew Butler, a 9-year veteran of JSO, had a nude photo of a young girl.

Undersheriff Pat Ivey said Butler made a statement to someone, who then notified JSO.

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Ivey said investigators found something on a device and they are going through legal channels to be able to go through the device.

Butler was taken into custody on Tuesday afternoon and was then processed into the Duval County Jail. Butler resigned, but Ivey said it did not matter because he would have been fired anyway.

"My daughter played over in their yard, in the house, so yeah definitely worries me,” said Mary Bishop, a neighbor.

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Investigators said Butler made a statement to someone, who then notified police. After an investigation, they said Butler had a nude photo of a girl under the age of 12 on a device.

“I’m completely shocked. Nothing gave me a clue that he would do something like that,” she said.

Neighbors said they can’t believe he’s accused of breaking the laws he’s sworn to protect.

“This just really, really hurts me,” Johnson said.

Police said they are now going through legal channels to be able to go through the device to see if there are more pictures.

“We will take this case and go wherever it takes us,” Pat Ivey, undersheriff for JSO.

It’s a case that’s made one mom more jaded.

“You can never trust anybody. It’s really horrible to say that,” Bishop said.

Butler will make a first appearance Wednesday morning. Action News Jax will be there.

This is the second arrest of a JSO officer this year. The first came over the weekend, as JSO announced the arrest of Officer Rodney Bryant, who was involved in a dispute Friday at Mascara's Gentlemen's Club with his girlfriend and her friend.

Cox Media Group