Polk County, Florida, law enforcement officers arrested five men and a 16-year-old boy this week after they were found to be in possession of child pornography.
Police said Alejandro Manuel Resto Rodriguez, 20, of Winter Haven; Jonathan Omar Baez Rivera, 18, of Haines City; Ian James Vache, 47, of Lakeland; Marco Cepeda, Jr., 24, of Lakeland; Emanuel Paulino-Correa, 18, of Poinciana; and a 16-year-old from Davenport face charges related to child pornography.
Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrests five men and one minor for possession of child pornography
(Polk County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigations into the suspects began when the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children notified detectives that the individuals were passing out child pornography over the Internet.
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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news release that the images and videos found during the investigation were “horrifying,” vowing to protect children from anyone possessing, trading or distributing child pornography.
“These men are part of a global underground market for the distribution of child pornography: the demand for this vile material harms children and ruins lives,” Grady said. “I appreciate the hard work our detectives put in that went into bringing these charges. Working to keep our children safe is the most important thing we do.”
The victim and the suspect allegedly met on the social media app Snapchat, according to police.
(Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto)
Police said Rodriguez was charged with 94 counts of possession of child pornography after his cellphone allegedly contained 94 files of children between the ages of a few months and 8 years old engaging in “lewd acts.”
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Rivera, police said, faces 17 counts of possession of child pornography after allegedly using Snapchat to view child pornography. His cell phone, according to police, contained files of children between the ages of 1 and 9 who engaged in lewd acts.
Vache’s cell phone, police said, had 160 files of child pornography with some of the children as young as 6 months.
While on the scene, detectives found a glass pipe filled with amphetamine, the news release read.
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Police charged Cepeda with seven counts of child pornography and Paulino-Correa with 30 counts.
The 16-year-old was also charged with 25 counts of child pornography.
Police said that in each investigation, additional electronic devices were seized so that a forensic search could be conducted. If more child pornography is found, police added, the suspects will be charged accordingly.
