A North Carolina registered child sex offender, Geoffrey Lee Dudding (39, Concord, NC), has pleaded guilty in Florida to attempting to entice an 11-year-old child to engage in sexual activity using his cellphone and the internet.
Dudding, who has two prior convictions for sex offenses involving minors in North Carolina, now faces a serious sentence in federal court.
He is subject to a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years and up to life in federal prison, along with a potential lifetime term of supervised release. His sentencing is scheduled for January 14, 2026.
According to court documents, the case began on January 13, 2025, as part of an undercover operation conducted by an FBI agent in Jacksonville aimed at identifying adults seeking to exploit children online.
- Online Contact: Posing as the parent of an 11-year-old, the undercover agent (UC) posted messages in a public chat room on a social messaging platform.
- Sexual Interest: Dudding, using the app name “metalh34d321,” privately contacted the UC and expressed clear sexual interest in the purported “child,” stating, “Let me know if ya ever down to let me do her.”
- Intent to Travel: Despite the UC repeatedly advising that the “child” was 11 years old and lived in Florida, Dudding persisted, describing graphic sexual acts he wished to perform, sending the UC an explicit video of himself, and discussing plans to travel to Jacksonville to book a hotel and meet the “child” for sex.
Dudding, a previously convicted child sex offender, was arrested in Concord, North Carolina, by FBI agents on May 8, 2025. His previous North Carolina convictions were for indecent liberty with a minor (2007) and solicitation of a child by computer to commit an unlawful sex act (2024).
The case was investigated through a cooperative effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, and the Cabarrus County (North Carolina) Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown is prosecuting the case.
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