In under a month’s span, another ex-Jacksonville Jaguars staff member has received a prison sentence. Samuel Arthur Thompson, 53, was recently handed a punishment of over 200 years by U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis in Florida.
Thompson, residing in St. Augustine, received a sentence of 220 years after being found guilty in November of various charges including the production, receipt, and possession of illicit images involving children, as well as violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
Additionally, he was convicted of tampering with the Jumbotron system at the Jaguars’ EverBank Stadium following the team’s decision not to renew his contract upon discovering his status as a registered sex offender.
Thompson had been brought on by the Jaguars in 2013 to provide expertise in the design and setup of the new Jumbotron, later being tasked with operating it during game days. Despite his contractual obligation to disclose his conviction, he failed to do so, leading to the Jaguars’ decision to terminate his contract upon learning of his criminal history.
Before his contract expired, Thompson installed remote access software on a spare server within the Jaguars’ server room, subsequently using it to disrupt the Jumbotron during NFL games in the 2018 season.
Notably, Thompson had a prior conviction for sexually assaulting a minor in Alabama in 1998. After an investigation, the Jaguars identified him as the perpetrator of the Jumbotron disruptions, leading to his arrest in 2020.
This marks the second instance within March of a former Jaguars employee receiving a prison sentence. Amit Patel, 31, was sentenced earlier in the month to 78 months in prison for embezzling nearly $22 million from the team through wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions.
