Child Pornography

FDLE arrests Mount Dora man on child pornography charges

MOUNT DORA, Fla.—A Mount Dora man is facing 10 counts of possession of child pornography following a search warrant at his Natoma Boulevard home Wednesday, according to an arrest affidavit.

Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) executed a search warrant at the home of Tyler James Hammond, 29, “in furtherance of an investigation” into an electronic device at the home being used to download child pornography, the affidavit states.

During an interview, Hammond reportedly admitted he had seen child pornography files using Kik, a messaging application, on his phone that was located in his bedroom. Agents looked through the phone and found 10 files depicting children as young as 10 years old, according to the affidavit.

Hammond was arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was released on $25,000 bond.

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Feds: More than 2 Dozen Child Porn Images and Videos Found on Phone Seized in Missing Mount Dora Mom Case; Husband Planned to Move to North Carolina

OCALA, Fla.—A cell phone seized from Brett Baldwin in the case of his missing wife Nicole Baldwin contained 31 images and videos of naked children and children being sexually abused, according to a federal criminal complaint obtained by Inside Lake.

Neighbors awoke to the sound of flashbangs before daybreak Thursday morning as authorities swooped in on his mother’s house on County Road 134B near Wildwood in Sumter County and took him into custody on a federal warrant for possession of child pornography. He was later booked into the Marion County Jail, where he is being held on no bond.

Marion County Sheriff’s Office

According to the complaint, “On November 28, 2023, detectives with the Mount Dora Police Department seized an iPhone 14 cell phone…from the person of its owner Brett Baldwin while executing a search warrant at his residence in Mount Dora, Lake County, Florida. The phone was seized in furtherance of a missing person investigation.”

Numerous agencies have been involved in the case of Baldwin’s missing wife, including Mount Dora Police Department (MDPD), Lake County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO,) Seminole County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE.)

Upon searching the phone, FDLE found 31 files containing child pornography that included children described as “less than 2 years old and less than 3 years old.” DHS took over the case and warrant for Baldwin’s arrest was issued.

MDPD has not commented on Baldwin’s arrest and has remained tight-lipped about its investigation into Nicole Baldwin’s disappearance. DHS believes he was preparing to flee Florida.

The DHS complaint states, “Baldwin has made it known that he is moving to Waynesville, North Carolina in the very near future. Baldwin has recently moved from Mount Dora, FL to his mother’s home in Wildwood, FL with his 11-year-old daughter and his 13-year-old son. He has yet to enroll his children in a school making it evident that this move out of the state of Florida will take place.”

Nicole Baldwin, 41, was last seen Nov. 2 and reported missing Nov. 5 from her home in Mount Dora. She is considered “missing endangered” and is described as a white female, 5 feet, 5 inches tall, 135 pounds, with brown and (dyed) blonde hair, and hazel eyes. If you have information on Baldwin’s disappearance, call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS. Crimeline callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward.

Previous stories: Husband of Missing Mount Dora Mom Being Held on Federal Charges – Inside Lake

                               Husband of Missing Mount Dora Woman Taken into Custody Thursday Morning – Inside Lake

Nicole Baldwin

 

Feds: More than 2 Dozen Child Porn Images and Videos Found on Phone Seized in Missing Mount Dora Mom Case; Husband Planned to Move to North Carolina Read More »

Deputies: Eustis Middle Teacher Arrested for Possessing Child Porn a “Serious Risk to the Community” if Released from Jail

MARION COUNTY, Fla.— The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released details in the arrest of a Eustis Middle School teacher earlier this week.

On Friday, MCSO announced the arrests of six males for possessing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) including a Eustis Middle School teacher who was also a volleyball coach at the school. Michael “Mr. K” Kozierowski, 58, of Ocklawaha, is facing 10 counts of possession of child pornography and could face more charges if additional images or videos are found on any of his electronic devices, MCSO said in a press release. Eustis Police Department was notified of Kozierowski’s arrest and Lake County Schools notified parents by email and phone Wednesday afternoon.

According to Kozierowski’s arrest affidavit, when law enforcement officers arrived at his home and requested to view his electronic devices, he “immediately became visibly nervous” and said he was a teacher at Eustis Middle School and he would not allow law enforcement to look at his devices without a lawyer present. Authorities secured a search warrant and found 10 video files depicting prepubescent females in various sex acts. Many of the files had been downloaded recently and viewed as recently as Saturday.

A large number of compressed files were also found and are expected to contain more CSAM, and the arresting detective requested Kozierowski be held on no bond. The request was granted and Kozierowski is being held in the Marion County Jail.

“Much of the CSAM he possessed and viewed depicted children that are around the same age of the children he daily has care, custody and control over. The defendant’s release poses serious risk to the community due to his access to children and sexual attraction to them,” a detective noted in the affidavit.

MCSO, along with Ocala Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations concluded the operation this week after receiving tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC.) Authorities searched electronic devices tied to the six males and each male was found to be in possession of CSAM, according to MCSO.

In addition to Kozierowski, five more males were also arrested:

  • Daniel Carroll, 31, was arrested for 22 counts of possession of child pornography
  • Matthew Davidson, 17, was arrested for six counts of possession of child pornography
  • Dominik Robinson, 20, was arrested for seven counts of possession of child pornography. Unlawful use of a two-way communication device and resisting arrest without violence
  • Christopher Carley 19,was arrested for  20 counts of possession of child pornography
  • Cameron Rios, 27, was arrested for seven counts of possession of child pornography, unlawful use of a two-way communication device.

Previous story: Eustis Middle Teacher Arrested on Child Porn Charges, Details Remain Unknown – Inside Lake

 

Deputies: Eustis Middle Teacher Arrested for Possessing Child Porn a “Serious Risk to the Community” if Released from Jail Read More »

Eustis Man Admits to Downloading Child Porn

EUSTIS, Fla.—A Eustis man admitted to downloading and viewing child pornography after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement executed a search warrant at his Lakeview Avenue home Thursday, according to an arrest affidavit.

Alexander James Andrews, 28, remains in the Lake County Jail on $12,000 bond after an undercover investigation led FDLE agents to him; the details of the investigation were not released. Andrews admitted to viewing and downloading child pornography images of boys and girls as young as 6 years old, and used his phone for the illegal activities as recently as the night before the search warrant was executed, the affidavit states.

Andrews was arrested for four counts of sexual performance by a child and transported to LCJ. His phone was seized, and more charges are possible if additional images or videoa are found after the phone undergoes a forensic analysis.

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Homeland Security Investigation Reveals Eustis Man’s Possession of Child Pornography

EUSTIS, Florida—A Eustis man out on bond for a prior arrest for possessing child pornography has been arrested again after he allegedly received child pornography in an online chat room being monitored by an undercover Homeland Security agent.

Eric Allen Bozeman, 42, who was arrested in 2021 for four counts of possessing child pornography, was arrested again Tuesday at his job, Advance Auto Parts, 2505 South Bay Street, Eustis, by Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents. He refused to speak with agents and invoked his right to an attorney, according to an arrest affidavit. He was arrested for two counts of possession of child pornography and is being held on no bond; his bond in the 2021 case has also been revoked.

In this most recent case, Bozeman is accused of receiving two child pornography images in an online chat group through the Wickr application. Wickr encrypts chats and media files, “Other communications platforms store or share their users communications with governing bodies or third-parties. Wickr does not. We will never share the communications of Wickr users. In fact, Wickr does not have access to any encrypted communication conducted on our platform and conversations are never stored on our servers, thanks to our privacy-first architecture. Wickr enables enterprises to implement their own message archival and monitoring regimes in accordance with internal policies and government regulations,” Wickr’s “About Us” section states on its website.

According to the affidavit, in May, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Monterey, California, began targeting online chat groups that included members who shared child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and discussed the sexual abuse of children. In a group named “mostly taboo” Bozeman, under a username so vulgar Inside Lake Cannot publish it, was observed by an undercover HSI agent interacting with other users who were sharing CSAM. Bozeman received two images that were so graphic, Inside Lake cannot publish the descriptions of the images. The two images included four juvenile females believed to be approximately 5 years old.

Bozeman posted sexually graphic comments on both photos.

In early June, the HSI undercover agent, acting as an individual sexually attracted to children, began communicating with Bozeman and asked him what ages he is into. He reportedly replied 6-15, the affidavit states. Bozeman told the agent about a juvenile female he claimed to abuse and said he lost the videos and photos of the abuse when he dropped his phone in the toilet. The following day Bozeman identified himself as “Eric from fl” and said he was 41. Bozeman was 41 at the time of the message; he has since turned 42.

The above photo is intentionally blurred due to possible undercover work and the nature of the cases investigated by the law enforcement officials pictured here. PHOTO: Jolie Fowler/Inside Lake

A few days later, the HSI agent sent Bozeman a link to a Snapchat account the agent said belonged to a 12-year-old girl; the agent was actually running the account, pretending to be the girl. The account then received a friend request from eric_bozeman23, according to the affidavit. The agent accepted the request and told Bozeman they were “only 12.” Bozeman communicated with who he believed was the 12-year-old girl and sent inappropriate sexually-charged messages to the “girl,” along with a selfie agents used to match to his driver license photo.

Bozeman also continued to communicate with the undercover agent on Wickr and sent a photo of a juvenile, smiling and wearing a black t-shirt with “Queen Squad” in gold lettering and black pants. Bozeman told the HSI agent he was sexually involved with the juvenile; she has not been identified by law enforcement.

On June 21, the agent, acting as the 12-year-old girl, sent Bozeman a phone number and said she wanted to communicate by text on the phone. Agents then subpoenaed records belonging to the phone number Bozeman was texting from and found he was the subscriber for the phone since February 2020 and the billing address was Pelican Street in unincorporated Eustis—Bozeman’s residence.

The information about Bozeman was then turned over to FDLE and an FDLE agent—the same agent who investigated Bozeman’s 2021 case— received the information about Bozeman, including his address and recognized it from 2021.

“(Special Agent) recognizes the address of 26750 Pelican Street, Eustis Florida from a previous investigation involving Bozeman. In August of 2021 Bozeman was arrested for possession of child pornography and is currently still out on bond pending trial,” the agent wrote in the affidavit.

Bozeman is represented by attorney Bryan Hugo of Maitland in the 2021 case.

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Former Lake County Firefighter Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing Young Boy

TAVARES, Florida—A jury has found a former Lake County firefighter guilty of sexually battering and molesting a young boy 15 years ago.

Steven Trent Ellis, 52, of Umatilla was arrested in July 2019 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after a tip and subsequent search warrant revealed multiple images of child pornography on his computer. Following his arrest, “several” individuals came forward and reported he had sexually abused them, according to a probable cause affidavit.

FDLE met with a victim in 2019 who said he had been abused by Ellis four to five times in 2008 when he was under 12 years old; his exact age is redacted from the affidavit. The boy and his family reported the abuse to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in 2008 and the case remained open for more than 10 years pending further corroborating evidence.

Steven Ellis is seen here in his 2019 mugshot.

The statements the victim made in his original complaint in 2008 were consistent with statements he made in 2019; he told agents what Ellis did to him in great detail and said it happened at the home Ellis lived in on Fishermans Road in Paisley at the time.

In October 2019, Ellis was charged with sexual battery on a child under 12 and lewd or lascivious molestation, in addition to the child pornography charges. In 2020, he pleaded no contest to the child pornography charges and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in April 2021, and on Monday, Ellis stood trial for two counts of sexual battery on a child under 12 and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation. He was found guilty by a jury on all three counts and sentenced to life in prison.

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Montverde Man Arrested on Multiple Child Pornography Charges, More than 1,000 Images Found  

MONTVERDE, Florida—A Montverde man is being held on no bond after a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) resulted in a search warrant that revealed more than 1,000 digital child pornography images, some with children younger than 4 years old, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) began investigating Joseph A. Greene, 64, after NCMEC reported Greene had uploaded approximately 500 child pornography images to his Google account between Feb. 18, 2022 and Oct. 25, 2022. FDLE executed a search warrant for his account and found graphic images depicting young girls in various sex acts alone, and with adults, the affidavit states.

There were also numerous images of Greene masturbating with captions referring to children, in addition to photos of a young girl Greene knows. Those images appeared to be taken from social media accounts, according to the affidavit.

A warrant was issued for Greene Wednesday and he was arrested at his home on Omega Court in Montverde Thursday. Greene, who has an active warrant out of Georgia for an undisclosed crime, is facing 20 counts of possession of sexual performance by a child, but there are more than 1,000 additional counts that could be charged, the agent noted in the affidavit.

Greene, who does not have a Florida driver license or ID, has no known family in the area and is a potential flight risk, according to FDLE. He is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond.

Montverde Man Arrested on Multiple Child Pornography Charges, More than 1,000 Images Found   Read More »

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