TAVARES, FL (352today.com) – Jurors found Jerry Lynn Adams, 48, Fruitland Park, guilty of sexual battery on a child less than 12 years of age, Sept. 24, 2025.

The verdict was issued in the courtroom of Judge Heidi Davis, State of Florida Fifth Judicial Circuit. The accused faces life in prison as a mandatory sentence, with Adams being sentenced at a later date, allowing time for a presentencing investigation to be conducted.

The accused was arrested in Aug. 2023, following an investigation that had been conducted by the Tavares Police Department, after it had been reported that a minor child had been sexually abused.

Authorities learned that the abuse was committed at a residence in Altoona, Lake County, and called in the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. A Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy responded to the request from the Tavares Police Department, who advised the deputy that a child had been molested by the accused.

The child had confided to another child that they had been molested, with the other child telling an adult, with the adult telling the person who filed the formal charge against the accused.

Authorities spoke with the minor, who told law enforcement that the accused had sexually battered them approximately a year earlier, and provided investigators with crucial details, revealing that the accused had molested them on another occasion.

Detectives would conduct a thorough investigation, and employed a technique known as a controlled phone call, where the accused admitted to touching the victim, who was 10 years old at the time, inappropriately. The investigation would result in Adams’ arrest.