TALLAHASSEE, FL – LAWFUEL – US Attorney – Attorney General Bill McCollum and the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement today announced that five Tampa area
residents were arrested for possession and distribution of child
pornography. The arrests are the culmination of a weeklong operation in the Tampa area by federal, state and local law enforcement authorities to
investigate and apprehend individuals who possessed and distributed child
pornography.
Those arrested were Jeffery Feldhause, 22, of Largo, who will be
charged with one count of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor and one count of distribution of videos promoting
the sexual performance by a minor; Jerry Barfield, 41, of Plant City, who
will be charged with 19 counts of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor and four counts of distribution of videos promoting
the sexual performance by a minor; Trent Cox, 42, of Tampa, who will be
charged with four counts of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor and one count of distribution of videos promoting
the sexual performance by a minor; Michael Boyd, 41, of Tampa, who will be
charged with 15 counts of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor; and Ryan Lawrence, 22, of Tampa, who will be
charged with four counts of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor.
“Nothing is more important than keeping our children safe from
individuals who attempt to steal their innocence by victimizing them in
such a heinous manner,” said Attorney General McCollum. “We will never back
down and we will never turn away from this fight to protect our youngest
citizens.”
“Florida’s law enforcement is committed to working together to
protect our most innocent citizens, our children, from being victimized by
online predators,” said Special Agent Supervisor Mike Phillips of FDLE’s
Computer Crime Center.
The arrests were part of a joint effort by the Attorney General’s
Child Predator CyberCrime Unit and Office of Statewide Prosecution, FDLE’s
Computer Crime Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Innocent
Images Task Force, the United States Secret Service, the Hillsborough,
Pinellas and Polk Counties Sheriff’s Office and the Tampa and Plant City
Police Departments. The agencies involved are all members of the Internet
Crimes Against Children Task Force, a federally-funded program that assists
law enforcement agencies in their investigation of internet crimes against
children.
