Ex-Daytona Beach Police officer gets 25 years for possessing child sexual abuse material

A former Daytona Beach Police officer was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison and designated a sex offender after he was found to have child sexual abuse material on his phone and to have participated in a chatroom where such images were shared.

Brandon Michael Fox, 23, was also sentenced to 45 years of sex offender probation after his release from prison. Fox must also register as a sex offender.

Investigators found about 100 images and videos of child sexual abuse material on Fox's phone and Fox also participated in an online chat room on Kik in which group members shared more than 3,800 illegal images, according to testimony.

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Fox testified, apparently crying at times, that he had been suffering from depression and anxiety and was stricken by the suicides of two friends and the death of his friend and fellow officer Jason Raynor, who died 55 days after he was shot in the head in 2021.

“I am someone who should have been acting to arrest and stop child abuse and child pornography,” Fox said. “In my tenure in law enforcement, I was involved in the arrest of sex offenders and people who have sought to hurt children. So, when I came into contact with these items I should have been part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Blackburn said that Fox had suffered terrible trauma, including Raynor’s death. But the judge said Fox knew what he was doing.

“Instead of protecting those innocent children from criminal behavior and exploitation, you chose repeatedly to participate in their exploitation and their victimization,” Blackburn said. “And every single time you open a photograph or video, you, a sworn officer, revictimized that child. Every time you entered that chat room through Kik or any other chatroom that’s designed to share child pornography, you participated in exploiting children.”

Blackburn adjudicated Fox guilty on all counts and gave him credit for one day time served.

Fox had been with the Daytona Beach Police Department for two years before his arrest.

Before sentencing, Fox said he understood the child sexual abuse material harmed children and that it was "disgusting."

"I did not find children sexually attractive and I am not in any way, shape or form a sex offender, although that is how the public has viewed me from the beginning," Fox said.

Ex-Daytona Beach Police officer pleads no contest to child porn possession

Fox entered no contest pleas to 38 counts of possession of sexual performance by a child. Each count was enhanced from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony because Fox possessed 10 or more images and at least one of the images was a video.

A second-degree felony is punishable by up to 15 years in prison; that means the 38 counts added up to a possible 570 years. Sentencing guidelines called for a minimum sentence for Fox of 63.5 years in prison.

Assistant State Attorney Mark Interlicchio agreed to waive the minimum sentence. Interlicchio asked the judge for a lengthy prison term but did not specify a number. He said Fox had experienced trauma like other members of the Daytona Beach Police Department. Interlicchio said he could understand Fox turning to drugs or alcohol, but not child porn.

Fox’s defense attorney, Aaron Delgado, asked for a minimum sentence and questioned what good would it do to send Fox to prison. Delgado said Fox could be appropriately monitored by GPS outside of prison. He said Fox accepted responsibility for his actions.

Daytona Beach Police Sgt. Tim Ehrenkaufer testified that investigation began after police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

He said among the pictures and videos investigators found was a video of an approximately 7-year-old girl in a sex act with an adult male. They found other images, including one of another prepubescent girl engaged in sex with an adult male.

Ehrenkaufer said Fox participated in a chat room on Kik in which the group for a two-month period shared just over 3,800 images of child pornography.

During cross examination, Ehrenkaufer said that Fox had not shared “that specific number.” He said members received images as part of the group.

At hospital with Jason Raynor

Fox testified that upon learning that Raynor had been shot he sped from Palm Coast to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, getting there ahead of the ambulance.

“From there I sat with him every single day. … We’d sit there and listen to music with him,” Fox testified.

Fox also said he was unable to get help through the police department’s employee assistance program.

When asked about Fox’s comments about the employee assistance program and his presence at the hospital with Raynor, the Daytona Beach Police Department responded with the following statement:

“The death of Officer Raynor was a very difficult time for everyone at the department. The entire department was offered assistance to include having psychiatrists and grief counselors readily available on sight at the police department, day and night, for every shift. We have no further comment.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ex-Daytona Beach Police officer sentenced to prison in child porn case