According to local news, a Webster, Florida man was charged with ten (10) counts of Possession of Child Pornography. The presiding first appearance judge set his bond at $50,000. He will be prosecuted in Bushnell, Florida.
It is reported that the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office’s Cyber Crimes Unit, along with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, had long suspected the individual of allegedly possessing the content and executed a search warrant assumingly regarding same this week.
It is alleged the material was stored on the Sumter County man’s laptop computer.
As is often the case, the defendant will immediately look to the warrant for his first legal challenge. This is a good place to start because the arrest warrant is what placed the officers at his home for his arrest and ultimately seizure of his computer. As a secondary issue, it will need to be investigated exactly how these images were found to be downloaded onto this man’s computer. Often times, the reasons for the initial arrest and search warrant and reasons for these pictures being downloaded are linked. In contrast, when those items are not linked, a common source of problems for the prosecution is these types of cases is involuntary downloads.