Florida Criminal Attorney Blog

Santos Feliciano of Coral Springs, Florida was arrested on Monday after police allegedly found child pornography on a computer in his home. Feliciano, 34, was booked into Broward County Jail on charges of possession of child pornography. As of Tuesday, he was still incarcerated at the jail in lieu of paying $20,000 bond. Police are still investigating the allegations and have indicated that more charges may follow, although it is important to remember that Mr. Feliciano is innocent until proven guilty. It is not clear whether Mr. Feliciano has retained a private criminal defense attorney.

According to the police report, Feliciano was apprehended at the Coral Springs home where he lives with his wife and three children after authorities acquired a warrant to search the residence. Broward County officials did not indicate what led them to apply for the search warrant, although such cases often involve agents tracking IP addresses that download juvenile pornographic content. The search allegedly revealed explicit videos of children performing sex acts on a desktop computer located in the living room of the home. Police also allegedly located a thumb drive containing additional child pornography videos in Feliciano's car.

The arrest report indicates that Feliciano confessed to viewing the videos on the computer in his home, as well as taking the thumb drive to work and watching the videos therein on his computer at work, although the report neglects t mention where Feliciano's place of work is. Broward County officials have announced that they confiscated both computers as well as the thumb drive and are performing complete forensic examinations on the equipment. The case is still under investigation.

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Michael David McCarthy of Hollywood, Florida was arrested for child pornography possession on March 16. The charges came after police searching for explosives in his Hollywood home allegedly found a stash of child pornography instead. McCarthy was subsequently charged with 83 counts of possession of child pornography and has been booked at Miami-Dade County Jail. It is not clear whether McCarthy has been granted bail bond or has retained a private criminal defense attorney.

The police report indicates that a nurse from Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood contacted them, saying that McCarthy, 54, had told her that he "had enough stuff to take out three city blocks and he keeps a machine gun by the front door." It is not clear what he was being treated for in the hospital. Police launched an investigation in response to the claim and went to McCarthy's residence, located on the 2500 block of Lincoln Street in Hollywood, to talk to McCarthy.

McCarthy reportedly cooperated with the officers, stepping outside when they asked him to. Officers say that McCarthy gave them his permission to enter the residence and conduct a search by moving a chair out of the way of the door for them when they asked if they could conduct a search. Police searched the premises and did not discover any explosives or other weapons, and McCarthy was not charged with weapon or explosive possession.

However, police officers allegedly discovered something else. "Officers saw in plain view child pornography on the monitor of his computer," said one detective. The images were reportedly being used as a screen saver slideshow on a monitor and featured underage girls exposing their genitals or engaging in sexual acts with older men.

According to a detective involved in the investigation, police "confiscated the monitor and a subsequent investigation revealed that there were at least 83 [child pornography] photographs." Police also reportedly confiscated two surveillance photographs that were pointed towards the computer monitor with the pornographic screensaver, a Mako Viper desktop computer, two Dell desktop computers, a CompUSA hard drive, and other media storage devices such as DVDs and VHS tapes after obtaining a search warrant.

The girls in the photographs are suspected to be anywhere from 6 to 14 years old and are either engaging in sex acts with older men, exposing themselves, or posing sexually. Police report that McCarthy believes that the child pornography depicts "children being tortured" but that he thinks of it as art. His viewpoint "makes absolutely no sense," commented one deputy.

Police are not sure at this time whether McCarthy took any of the pictures himself or has harmed any children. They are asking parents who live in McCarthy's neighborhood to show their children pictures of McCarthy and ask them if he has ever approached them, reporting any potential instances of child abuse.

McCarthy told arresting officers that he has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital after his arrest for treatment for undisclosed medical problems. McCarthy is not a registered sex offender in Florida and his last arrest was in 1976, over 30 years ago, for marijuana possession.

Carlos Perez, of Coral Springs, Florida was arrested on March 22 for allegedly conducting a two-year affair with a 16-year-old girl, sources indicate. The 61-year-old was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography. Officials are reportedly considering adding additional charges of sexual battery or child abuse. Perez is currently in custody at the Broward County Jail, where he is being held on $10,000 bond. It is not clear whether he has retained a private criminal defense attorney.

If found guilty as charged, Perez will have to register as a sex offender in the State of Florida. It is not clear whether he has ever faced similar charges.

According to sources, Perez was first cited for having an inappropriate relationship with the girl two years ago. He reportedly met her through her parents, with whom he worked at Swap Shop, a flea market/drive-in movie theatre located at 3291 West Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. The girl, whose name has not been released because of her status as a minor, began visiting her parents at work when she was 12 years old.

Reports indicate that two years later, when the teen was 14 years old, a neighbor spotted her and Perez kissing inside of a parked car outside of the girls' home. The neighbor notified police and the girls' parents. In October 2010, the father of the teen got an injunction against Perez on behalf of his daughter, requiring that he stay at least 500 feet away from her.

Investigations allege that Perez continually violated this injunction. Perez was arrested once in April on charges of aggravated stalking after he was found in a parking lot near the teenager's high school. It is not clear how police were able to locate him there. At that time, Perez' iPhone was confiscated and placed in a holding locker at the Broward County Jail. "During the course of that arrest we take his property [including] his cellphone and we put it into our property unit," explained a police officer. "The phone is the key here." For unknown reasons, Perez never went back to reclaim the phone when he was released from prison.

During interviews leading up to the current charges, the girl reportedly admitted to authorities that Perez would pick her up from school up to three times a week, take her to parking lots in Cooper City, and have sex with her in his car. The relationship was apparently consensual, and the girl reported that it had started some time ago. The girl also admitted to sending illicit photos of herself, including some in which she exposed her genitals, to Perez' iPhone.

Since police already had possession of Perez' phone, they were able to search it immediately after acquiring a search warrant. They found the incriminating photos and arrested Perez at his place of work, still Swap Shop, on Thursday. It is not known whether the business was aware of the restraining order against Perez or whether they will continue to employ Perez if he is released pending the current charges. They have not released a comment pertaining to the arrest.

Charlie Garcia, 30, has been arrested in Miramar, Florida for alleged possession of child pornography on his computer. He was arrested on December 17, 2010 and is presently being detained in the Broward County Jail on 30 counts of possessing a photograph depicting a sexual act by a child. His bond per count is presently set at $10,000 for a total bond of $300,000.

To learn more about bond and bail, click here.

According to news reports, investigators from the Broward Sheriff's Office internet crimes task force first learned that Charlie Garcia was allegedly sharing child pornography over the internet last month. In a joint operation with the Miramar Police Department,
Broward Sheriff's Office investigators served a search warrant to inspect Garcia's computers. Investigators claim to have discovered more than 50 images of children engaged in sex acts with adults. Investigators also claim that 17 of the images depicted infants.

As a criminal lawyer, I can tell you that the very, very, very first thing that must be done on this case is get the bond reduced. According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, Charlie Garcia has been incarcerated since December 17. There is no doubt in my mind that this is due to the very high bond he is facing. At $300,000, he would have to pay a bondsman $30,000 just to bond out.

In situations like these, a criminal lawyer is able to ask the presiding judge to exercise his/her discretion to lower Garcia's bond to an amount that is affordable yet high enough to ensure his reappearance in court.

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