Founder of charity for disabled children charged with child sex abuse since 2010 

CENTRAL FLORIDA: Officials said that the FBI arrested the founder of a nonprofit organization that supports children with disabilities on Wednesday and accused her of sexually assaulting juveniles. The Special Needs Advocacy Program (SNAP), which provides services to families and persons with disabilities in the Central Florida region, was established by James “Jamie” Grover. 

The FBI’s Tampa Field Office said on Thursday that the 62-year-old man had been taken into custody following searches of his Deltona residence and his place of employment, the Seminole Town Center Mall in Sanford. Grover’s detention hearing is scheduled for September 11 and he is presently being held at the Seminole County Jail.

Targeting young boys

Grover worked at SNAP and as Group Director of Autism on the Seas, an international organization that created cruise vacations for adults and families with special needs. The FBI believes Grover targeted young boys between 2010 and the present.

A copy of the federal complaint against Grover that was submitted on Thursday to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida was made available to FOX 35 on Friday. In the allegation, Grover claimed to have sexually abused three minor victims at the beginning. At one point, all three of the kids offered to work for SNAP.

The three boys claimed in their complaint that Grover took pictures of them in their underwear, indicated they could make money doing pornography, and encouraged them to masturbate in front of him. In addition, Grover is accused of grabbing a child’s buttocks, teaching a guy how to shave his crotch area, performing oral sex on one of the minors four times, and frequently giving out cigarettes and vape pens.

Denied sexual abuse

Grover allegedly forced the cabin beds together and engaged in additional sexual actions with the two teenagers, who were 16 and 15 years old at the time, during two different cruises departing from Port Canaveral in 2023, according to the complaint. Grover allegedly gave the teenagers the impression that they would be viewed as “crazy” if they ever went.

Grover allegedly told one of the victims, “If you tell anyone your family won’t believe you because you are an autistic child,” according to the complaint. Grover was interviewed by an FBI Special Agent in July, during which he denied any sexual abuse and said the teens were only making these accusations because they “wanted attention.”

Grover further claimed that one of the victims “is not an honest person and has a history of lying,” and that he thought it strange that two teens were coming forward at the same time. On Wednesday, authorities executed a search warrant at Grover’s home and place of business.