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Former Tampa mosque youth program volunteer transferred to prison in panhandle

Ehab Ghoneim entered guilty pleas in February on three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation.

TAMPA, Florida — A former youth program volunteer at a Tampa mosque who was accused of drugging and molesting boys has been transferred to a state prison in Florida’s panhandle. 

10 Investigates broke the news of Ehab Ghoneim’s plea deal on Feb. 8. 

After spending seven weeks in the Pinellas County Jail, the Florida Department of Corrections transferred Ghoneim to the Central Florida Reception Center, a state-run prison for men in Orlando, in March. 

Now the FDOC has transferred Ghoneim to the Northwest Florida Reception Center Annex, a prison for men in Chipley, which is in Washington County. 

Ghoneim agreed to serve eight years in prison followed by two years of probation. 

His projected release date is Dec. 14, 2030. 

He entered guilty pleas on all charges in Pinellas County: Three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one lewd and lascivious molestation charge. 

Ghoneim must also register as a sex offender. 

In early 2021, boys told police Ghoneim sexually abused them during sleepovers at his house in Pinellas Park and on overnight trips out of town for events like Islamic youth conventions.  

Police records show those boys reported Ghoneim would give them pills, get into bed with them, and touch them inappropriately while he thought they were asleep. 

In May, 10 Investigates uncovered that years before Ghoneim’s arrest, leadership at his mosque was told about accusations of inappropriate behavior in another state, but let him keep having access to kids anyway. 

In 2017 and again in 2020, a former employee went to the Islamic Society of the Tampa Bay Area leadership with reports accusing Ghoneim of inappropriate contact with kids in New Jersey. 

The mosque’s administrator told police he wasn’t able to prove the accusations were true, so he allowed Ghoneim to keep volunteering with the youth program. 

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