Hillsborough County Sheriff detectives pose undercover as children to catch online predators
Hillsborough County, Florida - Detectives with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Internet Predator Unit have made several arrests within the past month for possession of child pornography. Authorities say they've been able to be more efficient and handle more investigations since adding another detective last year.
Tuesday, authorities said a tip led them to arrest Lawrence Broviak for 42 counts of child pornography, which was found on his cell phone. The same day, Freddie Mendez was also taken into custody and charged with 30 counts of child pornography, after a search warrant was served at his Brandon home. Detectives say investigations could take weeks or even months.
The detectives spend hours on the internet, pretending to be children, so they can catch predators. Detectives also try to track down people in the Bay Area who are viewing and sharing child porn. Authorities say a file sharing system is used for that and they can see hundreds of IP addresses for Hillsborough County alone.
The IPU has been an official unit for several years now. It's made up of three detectives, but another one is set to join the group later this year.