Florida – A former Florida teacher has been given a 15-year prison sentence after admitting that he tried to se*ually abuse a kid and planned to record the torture. The sentencing comes after a case that investigators say started online and got worse over the course of several weeks, concluding with an arrest.
Matthew Christopher Yates, 31, was given a 15-year jail sentence by Senior U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan. Yates was additionally instructed to register as a se* offender and undergo ten years of supervised release after his prison sentence. He pleaded guilty on August 27, 2025.
On February 11, 2022, an undercover FBI agent pretended to be a 14-year-old girl online, which is when the investigation started, according to court filings. The agent replied to a post on a social media app from someone who called himself “English teacher.” Later, it was discovered that Yates owned that account. The post asked if any women wanted to be “rated by a teacher.”…