By Danny Federico Riverbend News
Two local men have been arrested for the possession of child pornography.
On Thursday, April 8, at approximately 8:08 p.m., 27-year-old Joshua Wayne Calhoun, of O'Brien, was served a warrant by the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office for the possession of child pornography, the transmission of child pornography and the unlawful use of a two way communication device. Calhoun was placed in a holding cell at the Lafayette County Jail under a bond of $65,000.
On Wednesday, April 14, 44-year-old Obediah Elliot Hall, of Live Oak, was arrested by the Suwannee County Sheriff's Office on 11 counts of sexual performance by a child, one count felony computer pornography and one count felony unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
According to the arrest warrant, on approximately Feb. 18, 2021, Special Agent April Glover with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) was assigned to investigate a CyberTip generated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) following a report of apparent child pornography made by the social media platform known as Kik. Six files were contained in this CyberTip, ranging from 14 seconds long to one minute and 58 seconds long.
After looking into subpoenaed information, it was found a telephone number subscribed to the service at the same time the files were uploaded through Kik. The telephone number was found to belong to Hall. Special Agent Glover called Hall on the phone number and scheduled a face-to-face interview the following day at the FDLE Live Oak Field Office.
According to the warrant, during the course of the interview, Hall consented to a search of his cellphone, against the legal advice of his attorney. At this time, 11 videos containing apparent child pornography were discovered in his Google Photos. These videos ranged in time from 11 seconds to six minutes and 51 seconds.
On Wednesday, April 14, at approximately 6:35 p.m., Hall was booked into the Suwannee County Jail under 11 counts of sexual performance by a child, one count of computer pornography and one count unlawful use of a two-way communication device. His bond is set at $305,000.