DELTONA -- A 22-year-old Deltona man is facing numerous criminal charges after child pornography was found Friday on the man’s computer. And the discovery by Volusia County Sheriff’s investigators may have prevented a 12-year-old girl from continuing to be victimized by the defendant, Chad Andersen, an agency spokesman said.
The Internet Crimes Against Children squad -- part of the Sheriff’s Office’s Sex Crimes Unit -- discovered the child pornography during a routine investigation into illegal on-line activity.
"The Sheriff’s Office obtained a search warrant after tracing the images to Andersen’s computer. During the search Friday morning at 974 Treadway Drive, investigators seized Andersen’s laptop computer and recovered numerous photo and video images of children -- some believed to be as young as 6-years-old -- engaged in sexual activity," Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said. "Andersen admitted downloading the images from the Internet."
Sheriff’s investigators arrested Andersen on 10 counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of promoting sexual performance by a child. The Florida Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit also assisted in the arrest.
During the course of the investigation, Andersen also admitted to committing a lewd act on a 12-year-old girl, Haught said, adding officials are interviewing the girl, and additional charges are pending.