Florida law enforcement busted a large international child pornography ring that involved eight individuals and over one million explicit videos, Attorney General James Uthmeier said Monday.
“We will be bringing charges against eight individuals this morning, seven of whom are Florida residents,” Uthmeier said. “As a dad of three little ones, it’s tough to talk about some of this stuff, but what these guys were doing was truly heinous. There’s not a word in the English dictionary that can describe the gross content that was on the videos.”
The charges against all eight include felony counts of RICO, money laundering, and purchase of child pornography.
Uthmeier thanked Rita Peters from the statewide prosecution office for “leading this fight.”
He was joined by Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass and officials from Homeland Security Investigations and the Office of Statewide Prosecution.
The attorney general said investigators obtained over a million videos “showing sexual abuse on minors – many of these individuals were babies.”
“This continues to be a problem in our country, in our state – protecting our kids is not an easy task to begin with, and today, with the access to the internet and social media, it allows these sick predators to more easily get access to our kids,” he said.
Uthmeier added that some of the activities occurred “through TikTok.”
“It was available online,” he said. “They found access to a portal where they could purchase this dangerous material.”
The attorney general called on TikTok and other platforms to be faster at shutting down that type of content.
“You’ve got my word that in this state, we are going to do everything we can to hold these people accountable,” he said. “If you are a child predator, if you are one of these sick people, then I hope you never see the sun again, and I hope you certainly never have access to kids again.”
“[Rita Peters is] going to slap these guys around in the courtroom, and unfortunately, I’m figurative in that comment,” Uthmeier said. “Thankful [for] her, as well as investigator Abby George, who busted the case.”