A Winter Park man has been sentenced to five years in prison for trying to meet for sex with a 14-year-old girl who was really a sheriff’s agent.

COLIN A. SHULL, 27, abruptly ended his trial in August by pleading no-contest to one count of traveling to meet a child for sex and one count of transmitting material harmful to minors. The plea came after jurors saw and heard evidence presented by Seminole County prosecutors Elena Vázquez and Jacob Polk.

At Shull’s sentencing Oct. 26, Circuit Judge Melanie Chase also sentenced Shull to three years of sex offender probation to follow his prison term and designated him a sex offender.

Shull was arrested by investigators from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office in a sting operation in 2023. Shull had engaged in text messaging and a call with an undercover agent who had posted a fake dating profile of a teenage girl. After the “girl” confessed she was 14, Shull acknowledged her age and continued to pursue her.

When Shull arrived at the agreed-upon meeting location around 9 p.m. on U.S. 17-92 in Lake Mary, he was immediately taken into custody. He admitted communicating about sex with someone he understood was underaged and then traveling to meet that person but denied that he would have followed through with the sex.

“We’re honored to work with law enforcement including the Crimes Against Children Unit that proactively investigate to prevent adults from harming actual children in our communities,” Vázquez said.

Evidence in the case included a photo and a video of his genitals that Shull sent to the undercover agent. It also included a voice call between the two over Snapchat in which Shull expressed concern about the legal consequences of their age difference – but then agreed to bring “protection.”