TAVARES, Florida—A jury has found a former Lake County firefighter guilty of sexually battering and molesting a young boy 15 years ago.
Steven Trent Ellis, 52, of Umatilla was arrested in July 2019 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after a tip and subsequent search warrant revealed multiple images of child pornography on his computer. Following his arrest, “several” individuals came forward and reported he had sexually abused them, according to a probable cause affidavit.
FDLE met with a victim in 2019 who said he had been abused by Ellis four to five times in 2008 when he was under 12 years old; his exact age is redacted from the affidavit. The boy and his family reported the abuse to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in 2008 and the case remained open for more than 10 years pending further corroborating evidence.
The statements the victim made in his original complaint in 2008 were consistent with statements he made in 2019; he told agents what Ellis did to him in great detail and said it happened at the home Ellis lived in on Fishermans Road in Paisley at the time.
In October 2019, Ellis was charged with sexual battery on a child under 12 and lewd or lascivious molestation, in addition to the child pornography charges. In 2020, he pleaded no contest to the child pornography charges and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in April 2021, and on Monday, Ellis stood trial for two counts of sexual battery on a child under 12 and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation. He was found guilty by a jury on all three counts and sentenced to life in prison.
