A Mulberry man was arrested on Tuesday after Google found him downloading and exchanging child pornography with his Gmail account, deputies said.



Steve Markowitz, 23, was charged with one count of possession of child pornography.

Bay News 9 spoke exclusively with his mother who said her son has had no prior run-ins with the law and she had absolutely no idea this was going on.

"I don't know how this happened, why this happened,” said mother Lauren Markowitz. “Steven was always such a good kid."

Officials say they were able to obtain the IP address for his computer and then his email address to figure out who he was and where he lived.

"After they told me he was being arrested, I asked to see him and I just gave him a hug and said I love you,” said Lauren.

Markowitz admitted he downloaded and exchanged child porn through email but many are wondering how investigators were able to track him down in the first place.



Google tipped off authorities as part of a partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"Different companies have different approaches to ensuring that their are not inadvertently illegal material on their servers," said Michelle Collins of the Virginia-based non-profit organization.

It’s a federal law for electronic service providers to notify the center if they detect possible child pornography on their networks.

They are legally required to report it to the Cyber-tip line and then that information is passed along to law enforcement.

"To keep their networks clean and to reduce the re-victimization of these children who not only suffered an initial harm who not only suffered an initial harm but it continues to be perpetuated," said Collins.

Markowitz’s mother said she is humiliated and embarrassed.

"I have five kids, two grandchildren, and I love kids more than anything in the world, and it's just, this is more than heartbreaking," she said.

Markowitz is being held on $25,000 bond.

As of June of last year, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reviewed more than 90 million images and videos of suspect child sexual abuse since it was created in 2002.