Florida Firefighter Charged With 22 Counts of Child Porn

It is not uncommon for upper class members of society and first responders—those who are often considered “heroes”— to develop child porn addictions and risk everything in the process. We live in a society that is infatuated with sex, which causes people to look for images that contain sexual images. While most people look for adult porn, sometimes they stumble upon sexually explicit images of minors.

These minors may be older teens. They could be adolescents, elementary school age children, toddlers and even babies. If the child in question is under the age of 18, the images are illegal and could cause an adult to experience serious criminal consequences.

This is what happened to a firefighter in Polk County. The 49-year-old man from Lake Wales claims he accidentally came across pornographic images of children while searching online for adult porn. However, he kept going back to the same site and downloaded a total of 22 images of child porn.

Investigators found the photos and videos on the man’s laptop. They showed children between the ages of 5 and 15 engaging in sexual acts. The man was arrested on April 8 and now faces 22 counts of child porn possession. After his arrest, the firefighter resigned from Polk County Fire Rescue. He is now free after posting a $110,000 bond.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children became aware of the child porn downloads when they received the first of 22 tips from Microsoft/BingImage on January 22. Polk County Sheriff’s Office were alerted to the tips on March 6. Detectives viewed the images, which showed children showing their genitals or engaging in sexual acts with other children.

Detectives also found the internet address was associated with Comcast. They linked the downloads to the man’s home and served him with a search warrant on April 8. The man, who lives alone, claimed that he had two routers, one which was not password-protected. Both were determined to be password-protected.

The man admitted that he had viewed child porn in the past, but was not actively searching for it. He claimed that he stumbled across the child porn while looking for adult porn. To find more adult porn, he kept going back to the site where he first found the child porn. He did not explain why he downloaded the images, however.

Contact a Legal Professional for Help

People of all walks of life are drawn to child porn for various reasons. Sometimes people look for other types of sexual images online and accidentally come across child porn. They know it is forbidden, but it can be hard for many people to simply look away.

If you have been accused of child porn charges, there is a lot on the line. You need aggressive representation from a Florida child pornography attorney. The Law Offices of Gilbert A. Schaffnit in Florida has more than four decades of experience handling child porn cases. Fill out the online form or call (352) 505-1799 to schedule a consultation.

Resource:

miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article229134684.html

https://www.gilschaffnit.com/florida-man-faces-federal-charges-for-child-porn-trafficking/