A 19-year-old Hillsborough County man was arrested Monday on 78 counts of possession of child pornography.
On October 7, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office began investigating Christian Smock after receiving a tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program.
The next day, Smock agreed to meet with detectives in the sheriff's office's Internet Predator Unit.
As the investigation continued, Smock's cell phone was seized and a search warrant was obtained to search the phone.
A week later he was arrested and charged with 78 counts of possession of child pornography.
Detectives found a combination of both videos and pictures on the phone, some downloaded from the internet. In one case the downloaded image involved a kid as young as 4 years old.
“The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is dedicated to protecting our community’s most precious asset — our children,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “We take crimes against, and involving, children very seriously and our detectives work tirelessly to pursue, charge, and prosecute individuals who commit these types of crimes.”
