Brooksville man arrested, charged with possession of child pornography
Photo courtesy: Hernando County Sheriff's Office
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - A Brooksville man was arrested on Monday after Hernando County detectives found child pornography on his social media account, according to authorities.
According to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, Carl Eugene Hatfield, 56, was charged with 64 counts of Possession of Child Pornography and Unlawful Use of Two-Way Communication Device.
On June 27, HCSO detectives received information of the possible possession of child pornography. They received a search warrant for Hatfield's social media provider, which yielded the contents of his account.
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They found 64 files of Child Sexual Abuse Material, and on Monday, they responded to his home in Brooksville in an attempt to speak with him.
According to HCSO, when he was initially talking to detectives, Hatfield suggested that his account had been hacked, and he didn't upload the child pornography to his account.
However, after being confronted with the facts of the case, Hatfield admitted to uploading the files. He went on to tell detectives that he uploaded the files for ‘research’ and ‘evidentiary’ purposes; he said his goal was to report the illegal activity to the appropriate authorities.
He is being held without bond.
Detectives seized Hatfield's cell phone, and a search warrant is forthcoming for its content. Additional charges are possible.