Sarasota sheriff: Minister arrested for child pornography was registered sex offender

OSPREY, Fla. (FOX 13) - Deputies arrested a church minister for possessing hundreds of images of child pornography, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said.

According to investigators, 66-year-old Charles Andrews is a minister at Osprey Church of Christ. Detectives said tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children showed two email accounts belonging to Andrews were used to download approximately 70 images of child pornography. Those email addresses were traced to his home's IP address.

After obtaining a search warrant, detectives found over 500 images of child pornography on Andrews' computer, including at least 50 depicting sexual battery of a child.

The sheriff's office said Andrews is a registered sex offender who was convicted in 2006 of second-degree sexual abuse in Alabama. Neither of his email addresses nor his social media account were reported to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Investigators charged Andrews with 500 felony counts of possession of child pornography, as well as three counts of failure to meet the registration requirements of a sex offender.

A bond of more than $5 million was set for Andrews.