U.S. police arrest 'world's number one distributor of child pornography'... as he was sitting at his desk watching it

John Shearen, 51, was arrested by authorities at his home in Leesburg, Florida in possession of up to 1,000,000 video and images of child pornography

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it appeared he had downloaded the most child pornography in the state of Florida in history



'He is the No. 1 person that can distribute child pornography throughout the world,' said the FDLE. 'And he’s been doing it.'

John Shearen is suspected by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement of downloading the most child pornography ever in the state of Florida - almost 1,000,000 images and videos at his home in Leesburg

A man described by police as the number one distributor of child pornography worldwide has been arrested at his gated lakeside home in Florida - sat at his basement computer downloading videos.



John Shearen was arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) on his 51st birthday in possession of up to 1 million images and videos.



Authorities said that Shearen was actively transferring the images and video to DVDs and in addition to the pornography also found children's underwear which he informed agents he wears.

FDLE agents said that Shearen was only identified last month while they were monitoring child pornography websites and when they entered his home he was sat at his computer procuring more images.



'We were able to seize anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million images and videos. They were stored on several computers and external hard drives to actually being transferred from the computers to separate DVDs, and he has a DVD collection of child pornography,' said Special Agent Jeff Duncan to WFTV.com .

'So, we have a lot of work to do. Those initial cases will be charged today.'

Agents with the FDLE said that Shearen had admitted his crimes, but they are desperately combing the scene for any evidence that children had been in his home.

John Shearen was arrested this morning at his home in Florida while downloading child pornography at his computer in his basement

Shearan was led away by law enforcement on his 51st birthday - after they discovered evidence of almost 1,000,000 video and images of child pornography

'One of our concerns is we located several items, outerwear of juvenile girls, including bathing suits, in the residence,' said Duncan.

'Our concern is, number one, making sure we don't have any child victims in this area.'



So far he has been charged with 20 counts each of distribution and possession of child pornography, but authorities said that they fully expect that count to rise as the investigation continues.



They compared the two dozen counts the reported Navy employee is charged with to the 'tip of the iceberg'.



'He is the No. 1 person that can distribute child pornography throughout the world,' said Duncan. 'And he’s been doing it.'

FDLE Special Agent Jeff Duncan described Shearan as 'The No. 1 person that can distribute child pornography throughout the world.'

Investigators said that Shearen had downloaded images of children aged between six-years to 12-years old.



One of Shearen's neighbors said that while he knew him, he never entered his house.



'He never let anyone in his house,' said Robby Pinder.



'I liked him as a human being. He seemed like he was alright, but you don't know somebody until you get to know them.'



Other residents said that they were relieved that Shearen had been caught.

