Polk Sheriff's Office: 4 men arrested, accused of possessing child porn; one victim rescued

The Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested four suspects on charges of possessing child pornography and rescued a victim that one of the suspects sexually battered, Sheriff Grady Judd said Friday.

The undercover investigation started after the Sheriff's Office got tips from the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children about suspects living in Polk County who were possibly downloading and transmitting the images and videos.

Detectives served search warrants at the houses of Melvin Lagos Jr., 18, of Davenport; Christian Pillot-Osorio, 29, of Lakeland; Billy "Jordan" Rose, 23, of Winter Haven; and Ian Gadd, 23, of Lakeland, who faces additional charges of sexually abusing a young child and recording it.

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"These suspects – who are the worst of the worst – used common social media apps, like Instagram, Snapchat, and Kik, to transmit and download child pornography. This is clear proof that these horrific images are easier than ever to find and share," Judd said in a prepared statement for a release. "Each time an image is downloaded or shared, the victim in that image is re-victimized."

At a news conference Friday afternoon, Judd said the agency normally arrests 10 to 12 suspects in undercover investigations, but he requested that they focus on less suspected predators at a time.

Judd said sheriff's officials found that Gadd is an active predator when they began issuing search warrants to the suspects.

Gadd was charged with two counts of transmission of child pornography and 89 counts of enhanced possession of child pornography after an on-scene preview of his devices, during which detectives said they found images and videos of children as young as 3-years-old being sexually battered.

Gadd also was charged with 10 counts of using a child in a sexual performance, 10 counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child and 11 counts of sexual battery on a child less than 12-years-old, which is a capital felony. Gadd is being held without bond in the Polk County Jail.

"He told us, during this investigation, the only reason he stopped transmitting child porn was because Instagram blocked him," Judd said.

Instagram also reported Gadd to the NCMEC, which helped lead to his arrest and the rescue of the victim, Judd said.

Judd said the rescued victim is a very young little girl who seemed to be coached not to talk about her abuse. He also said Gadd groomed the victim for over three months before he began to engage her in sex.

He said the Sheriff's Office is protecting her identity by not releasing her age.

Lagos was charged with 32 counts of enhanced possession of child pornography after detectives previewed his devices and found images of children as young as 8 being sexually battered. He is being held in the Polk County Jail on $32,000 bond.

Pillot-Osorio was charged with four counts of transmission of child pornography and 33 counts of enhanced possession of child pornography. Detectives said they found images of children as young as 5 months being sexually battered.

Judd said he told detectives that he used Snapchat to transmit the images among other platforms and is being held in the Polk County Jail without bond.

"Please understand [the counts] are just the initial charges at the time of the search warrant. We have not gone through all of their different electronic devices. That will occur over the next weeks," Judd said. "There's a great likelihood, because we usually find additional child porn, for which they will be charged in the future."

Rose was charged with 38 counts of enhanced possession of child pornography after detectives found images of children as young as 2 being sexually battered.

Judd said Rose focused on infants and he told detectives that he has used Kik Messenger to download the child pornography. He is being held in the Polk County Jail on $585,000 bond.

"We continue to encourage parents to be all up in their child's business – no matter how old their child is," Judd said. "We want these suspects locked up so that they never have access to children."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: PCSO: young girl rescued in child porn investigation, 4 arrested for possession