(Marion County, FL) In the courtroom of the Honorable Judge Peter Brigham, jurors found 41-year-old Kevin William Ernest, of Silver Springs, guilty of Capital Sexual Battery.

Ernest was convicted, after a jury trial, of three counts of capital sexual battery upon a child under 12 years of age and three counts of sexual battery on a person 12-18 years of age by a person in familial custody.

Ernest was arrested in July of 2019 following a Marion County Sheriff’s Office investigation after the young victim made an anonymous online post of the abuse.

During the last week of June that same year, the then 12-year-old victim made an anonymous post online regarding the sexual abuse by Ernest. The victim was eventually contacted by a concerned citizen who came across the juvenile’s post. After establishing a comfortable and safe dialogue with the victim, the concerned adult alerted authorities.

Officials with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) made contact with the child who advised of numerous incidents of sexual abuse by Ernest. Detectives launched a thorough investigation which revealed Ernest had been abusing the victim since the victim was 10 years old. The investigation resulted in the arrest of Ernest for sexual battery and lewd and lascivious behavior.

“I am so grateful that this fellow citizen shares the same commitment to protecting children as we do,” said William “Bill” Gladson, Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney. “They reached out to the victim, offered their help, and ultimately saved this child. Without this initiative to contact law enforcement, who knows how much more abuse this young child would have suffered from Ernest.”

This case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth White despite the overwhelming challenges to secure a guilty verdict in a case where physical evidence could not be presented due to the extensive timeframe of when the crimes occurred and the delay in reporting.