By Danny Federico Riverbend News
A Lake City man was arrested in Clay County on Wednesday, June 23, on a Suwannee County warrant for possession of child pornography.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, submitted by Special Agent Craig Riley with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and reviewed by Judge David W. Fina, of the Circuit Court of the Third Judicial Circuit in and for Suwannee County, Special Agent Riley first received and reviewed a CyberTip, a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), pertaining to the case on Oct. 19, 2020. The affidavit states the tip was initially sent to NCMEC with the concern of possible child exploitation through the transmission of child pornography from one user to another during conversations.
On Aug. 28, 2020, between approximately 9:30 a.m. and 10:26 a.m., 30-year-old Ross David Emery participated in online conversations through Facebook, during which he sent "photographs of naked children...which would be deemed child pornography. Emery also sent altered/cropped photographs of children...which, had the photographs been unaltered, would have been classified as child pornography."
During one conversation with an unnamed second party, Emery told the unnamed party he had three children and proceeded to send a "non-pornographic photograph of three minors." Emery was also sent files, to which he responded with replies such as, "cute," "Very nice. Your son?" and "how old is he?" The affidavit then states Emery also asked if the unnamed party liked boys or girls.
The affidavit outlines a total of nine conversations where child pornography was sent. In addition, it states that between the dates of April 12, 2020 and Aug. 28, 2020, Emery conducted numerous questionable internet searches.
Emery was found to have been in possession of 15 images, with four files containing two children. He was also found to have transmitted 10 images, with one file being sent three times and another being sent two times.
On Wednesday, June 23, Ross David Emery was arrested in Clay County on 15 counts of possession of child pornography, 10 counts of transmission of child pornography and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communications device. As of Monday, June 28, Emery is awaiting transfer to the Suwannee County Jail, where he will be booked under a bond of $180,000.