A Florida man has been charged with 15 felony counts after an investigation found he possessed sexual images and videos of children, police said.
Eric Paniagua, 29, was arrested by Miami-Dade County police at his home west of Richmond on Wednesday after authorities discovered he had been downloading and uploading obscene files containing sexual abuse images of boys and girls between the ages of 2 and 12. The Miami Herald reported..
Police, working with the Broward County Sheriff's Office, began investigating in August after receiving a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) indicating Paniagua was using the online messaging app Kik to store files, according to the arrest report.
Authorities said Kik reported the account to NCMEC.
Paniagua was reportedly identified as the owner of the Kik account, and police later discovered he had also used Skiff, an end-to-end encrypted email service, to upload approximately 100 files to an account registered under the username “Richardsman12.”
Police executed a search warrant at an address linked to the IP service associated with the account – Paniagua's home – and after being read his rights, he confessed to the charges, the report said.
Paniagua's electronic devices have been seized and are currently being examined for further evidence, the Herald reported.
According to court records, Paniagua has been charged with 15 counts of possession of obscene material and is currently being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $30,000 bail.
