Staff Reports
A Gainesville Police Department (GPD) investigation led to the arrest of a man who distributed and possessed child pornography on Wednesday.
According to a GPD release, Robert Duchaj, 28, was arrested and charged with one count of distribution of child exploitation material and one count of possession of child pornography.
On Wednesday, the GPD Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Division, with the assistance of the GPD SWAT team, served a search warrant at 2035 NW 7th Lane in Gainesville after receiving a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The CyberTip came when a Snapchat user shared media of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their platform.
The investigation revealed the Snapchat was shared at the residence where the search warrant was served and the suspect was determined to be Duchaj. According to the release, after reviewing the Snapchat communication, it revealed that Duchaj was soliciting child sexual abuse material of minor children.
Duchaj initially told detectives he didn’t remember the accounts or sending the illegal content and even suggested his phone was hacked, but he eventually confessed that the Snapchat account in question was his and he did send the video reported in the CyberTip. He told investigators that he made a mistake and was unclear about how many times he’s distributed sexual abuse material and that he’d been viewing that kind of content since his early 20s.
In the release, GPD stated, “The Gainesville Police Department wants parents to be aware that children are being solicited and exploited through social networking applications. These social networking applications, like Facebook, KiK, Snapchat, TikTok, and Tagged are also used to share images and videos that depict young children being sexually abused. Please be vigilant and aware of any social networking platforms your children may access.”
Anyone with questions regarding the incident are asked to call GPD at 352-393-7730 or email montagueda@cityofgainesville.org. Parents can also find resources at the NCMEC website located at https://www.missingkids.org/HOME.