Vero Beach man charged with 32 counts of child pornography possession, with most kids under age 5

Max Chesnes | Treasure Coast Newspapers

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A Vero Beach man was charged with 32 counts of possession of child pornography Monday after detectives searched his home and found several electronic devices full of pornographic videos of children.

Michael Wilson, 24, of the 300 block of 15th Lane in Vero Beach, told detectives he often used Discord, a popular video game chat application, to upload, send and receive pornographic videos of children, according to an Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest affidavit.

Wilson's arrest marks the second local investigation since August involving the distribution of child pornography using the Discord application. An 18-year-old was charged with 26 counts of child pornography-related charges Aug. 16 after reportedly using the chat application to lure children.

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Wilson said he had a pornography addiction that escalated to "wierder, nastier and darker stuff," in recent years, according to the affidavit. As detectives executed a search warrant of Wilson's home as part of an ongoing child exploitation investigation, they found pornographic videos of children as young as "only a few months old."

Detectives seized many electronic devices from Wilson's home, including several hard drives, cell phones, a laptop and USB drives, the report said. Wilson then told detectives they would find a lot of child pornography and would have "a big job to do."

Detectives found 32 videos of child pornography on one USB drive, according to the arrest affidavit. The Sheriff's Office anticipates that further investigation of Wilson "will reveal hundreds" of images and videos of child pornography, the report said.

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All of Wilson's 32 charges were enhanced from third degree to second degree felonies, as the majority of the children were younger than 5, according to the arrest affidavit.

"If kids are using these gaming platforms, parents need to make sure parental controls are put in place," Indian River County Sheriff's Office Detective Aaron Scranton said in August.

Wilson was transported to the Indian River County Jail, where he remains incarcerated with an $800,000 bond, according to jail records.

Max Chesnes is a TCPalm breaking news reporter for Indian River County. You can keep up with Max on Twitter @MaxChesnes and give him a call at 772-978-2224.