20 arrested, 12,000 images found in child pornography round-up

CLERMONT -- An assistant manager at the Clermont Walmart store was the 20th person arrested in a wide-sweeping child pornography round-up by Lake County Sheriff's Office's Cyber Crimes Unit.

Jonathan Williamson was arrested at the store late Thursday and charged with 100 counts of possession of child porn.

His arrest was just the latest in a five-month investigation that yielded 20 arrests and 10 more arrest warrants, the Lake County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

Sheriff's spokesman Cpl. James Vachon said the Cyber Crimes detectives worked with the Internet Crimes Against Children task forces in several states, including Wisconsin, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia to make the arrests. All the charges stemmed from Lake County, although agencies from other counties were involved, Vachon said.

Detectives went online in an undercover capacity and communicated with numerous individuals.

Arrests were made in Leesburg, Lady Lake, Eustis, Mount Dora, Clermont and Mascotte. Those arrested included students, a Walt Disney World employee and a business owner. Most were rounded-up at home, but a few were arrested at work, including one man at Silver Springs Citrus, said Vachon in an e-mail.

Vachon said as a result of the investigation, 23 search warrants were obtained and more than 12,000 images of child pornography were seized from computers. In one case, more than 9,000 images were found on a computer. There were an additional 10 arrest warrants for out-of-state individuals.

The suspects were taken to the Lake County jail and were being held on various bails.

Arrested were:

-- Xavier David Eccleston, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Jason Hussey, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Travis Seaman, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Timothy Williams, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Nolon Scott Henderson, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Nicholas Whitton, Possession and Distribution of Child Pornography.

-- James Tatarczuk, Certain Uses of Computer Services Prohibited, Transmission of Harmful Material to a Minor by Electronic Equipment.

-- Michael Zettelmaier, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Richard Parascandola, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- James Martnick II, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Carl Westberg, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Adrijk Duran, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Gary Shank, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Kenneth Gravel, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- David Bowman, Distribution of Child Pornography.

-- James Matthews Jr., Certain Uses of Computer Services Prohibited, Transmission of Harmful Material to a Minor by Electronic Equipment.

-- David Hardy, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Norberto Mendez, Possession of Child Pornography.

-- Larry Van Bates, Certain Uses of Computer Services Prohibited, Transmission of Harmful Material to a Minor by Electronic Equipment.

Tatarczuk, Westberg, Matthews and Van Bates were out-of-state arrests.

Disney employee arrested on counts of child porn

CLERMONT -- Lake County Sheriff's deputies arrested a Walt Disney World employee on charges of possessing child pornography after searching his computer Monday afternoon following an online undercover investigation.

Adrijk Jose Duran, 20, of Clermont admitted to downloading files of child pornography and stated he became curious when he began viewing the images last year.

Duran, who was listed as an employee for Crystal Magic at Walt Disney World as a crystal engraver, saved the downloaded images into a file labeled "data" on his laptop, according to authorities.

Sheriff's detectives working as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force obtained a search warrant after interviewing him online. Detectives found numerous images depicting children as young as 3 years engaged in sex acts with other children and adults.

When questioned by detectives, Duran admitted to using search terms such as "lolita" and "child porn."

Duran faces 10 counts of possession of child.

Following his arrest, Duran was transported to the sheriff's substation in the South Lake area and then to the Lake County Jail. At press time, he remains in jail on $100,000 bond.

Sex offender admits guilt in rape of 3 boys

A 25-year-old convicted sex offender pleaded guilty in Circuit Court yesterday to raping three boys under the age of 14.

His lawyer said he also confessed to taking lewd photos of the boys.

Kaulana Hirakawa worked as a sales clerk at the Disney Store at Ala Moana Center before he was arrested early last year on sexual assault charges.

Hirakawa is a 2001 graduate of Moanalua High School. He lived with his parents in a Salt Lake apartment with his parents, where, police said, one of the sexual assaults took place.

Court documents charge he sexually assaulted three boys ages 6, 9 and 13. The boys were friends of his family, whom he babysat.

Police said Hirakawa performed oral sex on two of the boys and took photos of their genitals.

His lawyer, Jeffrey Hawk, said Hirakawa admitted to all the allegations."

One thing he would like to convey to everybody is that he's extremely remorseful about what he's done, and he's going to take full responsibility for everything he's done," Hawk said.

Hirakawa has been in custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center since January 2007 unable to post $150,000 bail in one of the cases.

As part of his guilty plea, Hirakawa is required to submit blood samples and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Disney Employee Arrested

LAKE COUNTY, Fla (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- The Lake County Sheriff's Office reports the arrest of a man they say attempted to solicit sex from what he thought was a fourteen year old. The arrest comes after the law enforcement agency's Cyber Crime unit conducted an opertation to find lawbreakers on the Internet.

Police say Michael T. Bott has been arrested on three different felony charges stemming from solicitation of the illegal sexual activity.

Lake detectives say they posed as an underaged girl in an online chat room, where Bott attempted to set up a meeting for sex. He was later arrested and is now in the Lake County Detention Center.

Police tell FOX 35 that Bott is a Disney employee, but no other details are being released at this time.

Disney Employee Charged In Child Porn Sting

ORLANDO -- A Disney employee was charged Thursday after police said he possessed child pornography.Paul Fazio, 68, works in the gift shop at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.Police said Fazio was one of 14 arrested in the Polk County police operation.

They also said Fazio admitted to possessing the pornography and said he liked to look at pictures of adults having sex with infants."The reality is it goes much further than child porn -- it's sexual abuse of children," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.Judd said during a month-long undercover sting, detectives found 14 men with a combined 42,000 pornographic images and movies of children.Justin Hlebichuk, 22, from Lakeland, confessed to having the pornography as well.

"The youngest one I had was 14 -- that was shown, but I guess younger women just look a little better sometimes," he said.

Detectives said four of the men were linked and had swapped pornographic images in the past. Hlebichuk said he was sexually abused as a child, but he said he believes that that is still not an excuse for possessing child pornography."(It doesn't) matter how much a person's abused, they know the difference between right and wrong. I knew what I was doing, and I did it," he said.Fazio told investigators that he has evidence-destruction software.Police said he is facing 51 charges.

Read the news story here.

FBI Arrests Local Man for Child Porn

(ORLANDO Fla,WOFL,FOX35)- The FBI Innocent Images Task Force, comprised of members from the FBI, FDLE and the Seminole Sheriff's Office, made another arrest in connection with the arrest of Tony Guerra. Guerra, a former Disney World employee, was arrested last month on numerous counts of child pornography involving babies

Wednesday the Task Force arrested Andrew Neston for receiving and distributing child pornography and child erotica. Newton made his first Federal court appearance in Orlando Wednesday afternoon.

Disney employee arrested for child porn

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- Darren Roberts, 44, is charged with 18 counts of possession of child pornography. Police say the Disney employee left his laptop unattended in a laundry room at the Caribbean Isle Apartments where he resides. It was discovered by another tenant and turned into management. A little digging around on the computer by an apartment staffer -- to identify the owner of the laptop -- uncovered images of underaged children engaged in sexual acts.