Charter School Activist Searby Charged with Possession of Child Pornography

ARCHER – A 43-year-old Archer man has been charged with 12 counts of possession of 10 or more child pornographic images. Joel Bruce Searby, who was one of the founding members of the group that organized a vote to convert Newberry’s public schools to charter schools, was previously arrested on June 20, 2024, and has been in the Alachua County Jail since that date.

At the time of Searby’s arrest he was charged with lewd/lascivious conduct, two counts of obscene communication related to luring a 15-year-old minor to meet him for sex and using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

A search warrant that was executed at the time of Searby’s arrest reportedly produced a laptop, and a search of the laptop reportedly produced 12 child sexual abuse images. One was a video and 10 images showed nude or partially nude pre-pubescent males who appeared to be between the ages of seven and 10 years of age.

In addition, another video showed a partially nude male who appeared to be 14-16 years old. One video reportedly showed three nude, pre-pubescent males engaged in sexual acts with each other.

Searby has been held in the Alachua County Jail without bail since his arrest. However, bail has now been set on the new charges by Judge Sean Brewer at $900,000.

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