FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Davie man is facing a federal charge after agents said he was caught as part of an investigation into groups selling child sexual abuse videos on Instagram.
Recommended Videos
Records show Angel Gabriel Gonzalez, 32, appeared in Fort Lauderdale federal court on a charge of possession of child pornography Friday.
Investigators said they found evidence that Gonzalez was receiving money through payment apps for child sexual abuse material, including $5-per-minute FaceTime calls with underage girls, who would perform lewd acts for the purchaser.
A federal criminal complaint documented an eight-minute call by a purchaser, whose identity wasn’t disclosed, in which a 12-year-old girl was victimized.
The purchaser, from the Pittsburgh area, made several payments to Gonzalez, it states; descriptions included names matching those of victimized girls and terms used by the Instagram group.
Authorities said one of the victims, identified as part of an “ongoing” effort, told investigators that she had been contacted by a man who claimed to be 19, from Florida, but living in Texas, a description “consistent” with Gonzalez, who they said lived in Texas at one point.
Additionally, authorities said Gonzalez has been the subject of several tips regarding child sexual abuse material dating back to 2018.
Agents said he had been uploading the illicit content to blogging site Tumblr, Snapchat, Google and Instagram.
The complaint states that on Thursday, agents served a search warrant at Gonzalez’s home in the 3100 block of Palm Trace Landings.
They said they went to Gonzalez’s workplace, a Doral restaurant, and seized his cellphone.
A complaint states that the phone had a photo album called “Recent,” which contained more than 5,600 images and 2,600 videos, the majority of which were child sexual abuse material or “child erotica.”
One video depicted the rape of a victim described as an “infant,” authorities said.
Jail records show that Gonzalez, who is scheduled to be back in federal court for a pre-trial detention hearing on Wednesday, was being held in the Broward Sheriff’s Office Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach as of Monday morning.