Santa Rosa man charged with possession of child porn
A Santa Rosa County man has been arrested Tuesday on charges of possession of child pornography.
Clarence W. Burnette was arrested by the Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit with assistance from the U.S. Marshall’s task force, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Burnette, 25, had applied for a position with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and told deputies during his pre-employment polygraph test that he possessed images of child pornography.
CyberCrime investigators interviewed Burnette at his Sellersville home and Burnette admitted to possessing images of child pornography. Investigators seized a computer and conducted forensic analysis to confirm child pornography was indeed on the computer.
Burnette was booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail and is charged with one count of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony. Additional charges may be added at a later date. He will be prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office for the First Judicial Circuit.
He is currently being held without bond.
Also on Monday a Destin, Fla., man was arrested on charges of promoting the sexual performance of a minor and possession of child pornography.
John Forrest surrendered to law enforcement officers late Monday night after the Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit requested a judge issue a warrant for his arrest.
During a routine undercover investigation online, CyberCrime investigators discovered numerous images of child pornography and traced the images back to Forrest’s computer.
A CyberCrime investigator also determined Forrest, 38, was making the images available for distribution. A search warrant was executed on Forrest’s home with assistance from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, and nine computers were seized. Forensic analysis confirmed that numerous images of child pornography were on the computers, including some images of children appearing to be no more than two years old.
Forrest was booked into the Okaloosa County Jail last night and will be charged with three counts of promoting the sexual performance of a minor, a second-degree felony, and 20 counts of possession of child pornography, which will be enhanced to a second-degree felony which is punishable by up to 15 years in prision.
Additional charges may be added at a later date. Forrest was released from custody this morning on $30,000 bond and must wear a GPS monitoring device as a condition of his release.
