Chad M. Seibel
Criminal Defense
407.846.8008
Kissimmee Sex Crimes Defense
Contacted by a detective? Talk to a lawyer before any statement. Depending on the case, a lawyer may be able to get involved before charges are filed.
An accusation involving a sexual offense is unlike any other criminal charge. The penalties are among the harshest in Florida law, the stigma begins the moment an arrest appears online, and a conviction can mean sex offender registration that follows you for life — affecting where you live, where you work, and how you raise your own children. These cases can also be defended effectively, because they so often turn on one person's word, a flawed investigation, or an unconstitutional search.
Chad Seibel is a former prosecutor. He has seen how the State builds these cases — how detectives structure a controlled call, how forensic interviews of children are conducted, and how weak cases get dressed up to look strong. He now puts that experience to work for the accused in Kissimmee, Orlando, and throughout Central Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit (Osceola and Orange Counties).
If you have been contacted by a detective, do not give a statement. Call or text 407-846-8008 first. Investigators are allowed to lie to you, and a “quick conversation to clear things up” is how many of these cases get made.
Sexual Offense Charges We Defend
Every charge below carries its own elements, penalties, and defenses. Select a charge to read how Florida law treats it in 2026:
• Sexual Battery (Rape) — non-consensual sexual contact under § 794.011, from third-degree felonies to capital felonies.
• Capital Sexual Battery — sexual battery on a child under 12 by an adult; since late 2023, Florida law authorizes even the death penalty.
• Lewd or Lascivious Offenses — battery, molestation, conduct, and exhibition involving minors under 16 (§ 800.04), including the 25-year mandatory minimum (up to life) for lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12 by an adult.
• Statutory Rape / Unlawful Sexual Activity with a Minor — § 794.05 charges against defendants 24 or older involving 16- and 17-year-olds.
• Child Sexual Abuse Material (Child Pornography) — possession and promotion charges under § 827.071 and transmission charges under § 847.0137, substantially rewritten effective July 1, 2026.
• Online Solicitation & Traveling to Meet a Minor — internet sting cases under § 847.0135.
• Prostitution & Solicitation — § 796.07 charges, from misdemeanors to felonies.
• Indecent Exposure — § 800.03 exposure of sexual organs.
• Failure to Register as a Sex Offender — registration violations under § 943.0435.
• Florida's Romeo & Juliet Law — petitioning to be removed from the sex offender registry.
The Law Has Changed
Florida rewrote large parts of its sexual offense laws in 2025 and 2026. Among the changes:
• Repeat-offender mandatory minimums. Since October 1, 2025, a person with a prior qualifying sex-offense conviction (even with adjudication withheld) faces mandatory minimum prison terms for certain later offenses (§ 794.0116), and several of those minimums were raised on July 1, 2026.
• “Child pornography” is now “child sexual abuse material.” Effective July 1, 2026, the statutes were renamed, simple possession was raised to a second-degree felony, and new mandatory minimums were added for production and transmission offenses.
• Registration rules tightened. Since October 1, 2025, registrants must report in-state travel residences and detailed employment information within 48 hours.
• The death penalty for capital sexual battery. For offenses on or after October 1, 2023, Florida law authorizes a death sentence for sexual battery on a child under 12 — a law whose constitutionality is still being tested in the courts.
Much of what you will read online predates these changes. The date an offense allegedly occurred controls which version of the law applies, and that alone can change a sentence dramatically.
How These Cases Are Defended
As a former prosecutor, Chad Seibel starts where the State starts, then presses harder:
• Was the accusation tested, or just accepted? Many cases rest entirely on one statement. Inconsistencies, motives to fabricate (custody disputes, divorces, discipline), and suggestive questioning of child witnesses all matter.
• Was the search legal? Phone and computer cases often rise or fall on the warrant. Evidence from an unlawful search can be suppressed.
• Was it entrapment? Undercover online operations are common in Central Florida, and law enforcement conduct in those chats is a legitimate target of the defense.
• Does the physical evidence actually match? DNA, medical findings, and digital forensics frequently say less than the arrest report claims.
• Can exposure be reduced? Where the evidence is strong, the difference between statutes — and between pleading to a registrable offense and a non-registrable one — can be the difference between rebuilding your life and losing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I have to register as a sex offender if I'm convicted?
It depends on the statute. Convictions under §§ 794.011, 794.05, 800.04, 827.071, and most of § 847.0135 require registration. Simple prostitution and indecent exposure (§ 800.03) convictions generally do not, but exposure to a child under 16 charged under § 800.04(7) does. Avoiding a registrable conviction is often the single most important goal of the defense.
The alleged victim wants to drop the charges. Is the case over?
No. In Florida, the State Attorney — not the accuser — decides whether to prosecute. Cases go forward over an accuser's objection regularly. But a recanting or unwilling witness does change the State's trial posture, and a defense lawyer can address that.
Police asked me to come in and “tell my side.” Should I?
No. Politely decline and call a lawyer. In sex offense investigations, your statement is rarely used to clear you; it is used to lock you into a version of events before you know what the evidence is.
Can these charges be sealed or expunged later?
A conviction for most sexual offenses cannot be sealed or expunged. That is one more reason the fight happens now — at the charging and trial stage — not after.
Talk to a Former Prosecutor Today
The earlier a defense lawyer gets involved, the more can be done — sometimes before charges are ever filed. Chad Seibel defends sexual offense cases in Kissimmee, Orlando, and across Central Florida. Call or text 407-846-8008 for a free, confidential consultation.
Attorney Chad M. Seibel, Of Counsel at Perez LaSure Law. Office in Kissimmee. Consultations and meetings available throughout Florida by appointment. Hablamos español. Atendemos em Português.