ORLANDO — A 63-year-old Deltona man who used his position as founder of a special needs nonprofit to sexually exploit an autistic child was sentenced to life in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced.
U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza imposed the sentence on James Bernard Grover, whom a federal jury found guilty on Feb. 27, 2026, of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Grover was the founder and executive director of the Special Needs Advocacy Program, a nonprofit organization for the special needs community based in Sanford. Through that work, Grover met the autistic minor, provided the child with counseling and therapy, and coerced and enticed the minor to engage in sexual activity.
The FBI, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and the Sanford Police Department investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Diane S. Hu prosecuted it.
Grover’s sentencing came the same day federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Florida announced a separate child exploitation case. Ismael Osbaldo Pedro Tomas, 24, a Guatemalan national, pleaded guilty in Ocala to attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Pedro Tomas faces a minimum penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
According to the plea agreement, between July 22 and Aug. 11, 2025, Pedro Tomas communicated online with someone he believed was a 13-year-old child. That individual was an undercover detective with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. During the conversation, Pedro Tomas discussed the sexual activity in which he wanted to engage with the minor, discussed exchanging money for the sexual activity and ultimately traveled to a predetermined meeting location in Marion County to meet the child. He was arrested by law enforcement when he arrived.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations investigated that case. Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg is prosecuting it.
Both cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat what it calls “the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.” Pedro Tomas’s sentencing date has not yet been set by the court.