INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Deputies arrested seven people in connection with an investigation into separate child pornography cases involving thousands of images depicting sexual acts with minors. The images – some of them distributed over social media apps popular with teens and young adults – showed minors as young as newborns up to age 14, said Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers.
Four teenagers were among those arrested, including two high school students, sheriff’s officials said. Deputies continue to search for an additional person – Claudio Bermudez – who they said fled to Chile and has a warrant for his arrest.
“These are monsters. These are people trying to prey on our most vulnerable population – our kids. Absolutely unacceptable,” Flowers said. “Each one of them had different motivations. A few of them were selling (images). Many of them were downloading (images) for their own purposes. Many of them were chatting with underage people.”
Flowers briefed news reporters on the investigation dubbed “Operation Cyberstorm” Thursday at the sheriff’s office. Flowers described the disturbing details where one of the suspects, Dennis Houchin, used photos of his granddaughter to produce the child pornography images.
“He was pasting her face on top of the photos,” Flowers said.
In another case, Deshon Gowins admitted to selling child pornography photos using the mobile app Cash App for $5 to $10 per picture, Flowers said. The images in that case depicted children between ages 2 and 4.
“It’s not new to see the sales of (child pornography),” Flowers said. “We are seeing a transition to cryptocurrency for these illegal sales of child pornography.”
Deputies arrested the following individuals in over five months in connection with the probe:
- Arnold Flannery, 75, of Sebastian; Status: Held on $250,000 bond; Charge(s): 50 counts of possession of child pornography
- Tyler Lester, 19, Vero Beach; Status: Held on $775,000 bond; Charge(s): 31 counts of possession of child pornography
- Dennis Houchin, 64, Vero Beach; Status: Held at the county jail, bond information not available; Charge(s): 11 counts of possession of child pornography, 11 counts of production of obscene materials using a minor
- Jonathan Vasquez, 19, Vero Beach; Status: Released July 22 on $30,000 bond; Charge(s): two counts of using a computer to seduce/solicit/lure/entice a child
- Dometerius Bostic, 39, Vero Beach; Status: Released on $100,000 bond; Charge(s): using a computer to seduce/solicit/lure/entice a child, sale of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a place of worship
- Minor, 16; Charge(s): 11 counts of possession of child pornography
- Deshon Gowins, 19, Vero Beach; Status: Held on $265,000 bond; Charge(s): 14 counts of possession of child pornography, 13 counts of transmission of child pornography
Deputies are working with U.S. Marshals to track down Bermudez. Bermudez has a warrant for 33 counts of possession of child pornography, Flowers said.
Sheriff’s detectives worked with the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force throughout the investigation. Flowers said he’s concerned the debacle of child pornography has gotten worse over the years.
“I think there’s easier access to it as these new apps grow. (The apps) are constantly coming out. Every time the bad guys realize we’re occupying a particular app, a new app is created,” Flowers said. “The creators always have good intentions. But (the apps) are also being used to traffic child pornography.”
Some of the apps that suspects use to distribute the illegal, explicit images are Kik, Telegram, Omegle which is now Thunder, Discord, Instagram, Snapchat, Grindr and MEGA, Flowers said.
The sheriff said the arrests of teenagers for child pornography is recent and a disturbing trend. Flowers reminded parents to regularly check their children’s phones.
“There are plenty of kids who have Snapchat. It doesn’t mean they’re trafficking child porn. But should you be having a conversation with your kids – absolutely,” Flowers said. “It’s disturbing that we have two high school students this week that we did a search warrant on. It’s a bad scenario.”
Flowers said most of the child pornography images were found on the suspects’ phones, instead of personal computers. The sheriff said it’s only a matter of time for child pornography suspects to take the next step and start contacting children online.
“The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office is committed to getting these folks off the streets,” Flowers said. “If you’re out there downloading child pornography, uploading child pornography or chatting with underage juveniles with bad intentions, it’s a matter of time before Operation Cyberstorm catches you and you’re over here in our jail.”
