CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Federal agents arrested a Coral Springs man over the weekend after they said he tried to meet with who he thought was a 15-year-old boy to sexually abuse him ― namely, paying him to record foot fetish videos with him in which he would then sell online.
In a federal criminal complaint, an FBI agent described a disturbing trail of sexual abuse allegations against William Gangler, 25, dating back to when he himself was a teenager.
The complaint begins by describing a report a 21-year-old man made to law enforcement on March 5. According to the FBI, he told investigators that when he was around 12 or 13 years old, he was the victim of online predators who were sending him money to record sexual content online.
The complaint states that the man told investigators that several online users asked to meet him in person, but he only met one: Gangler. It states that Gangler “offered (the boy) money to meet and produce videos involving his feet,” paying him $600 at one point and offering him a percentage of profits made from sales of the child sexual abuse videos online; the boy said he never received any additional money.
According to the FBI, agents dug further and found a Coral Springs police report from 2017 in which Gangler, then 16, was accused of “doing sexual things” to a 7-year-old boy since the boy was 4 and seeking foot pictures from a 12-year-old girl. Authorities said Gangler and his mother denied the allegations.
The complaint states that agents found a second Coral Springs police report from 2021 in which another person reported that Gangler was “paying a friend” to record sexual videos and reached out to her on Snapchat seeking the same. Agents said on March 9, they uncovered a 2019 tip from Instagram that Gangler was sharing child sexual abuse content on its platform.
Meanwhile, according to the complaint, an undercover agent had been communicating with Gangler online since March 6. Gangler, authorities said, was selling child sexual abuse content ― including at least one video that he appeared to be in, abusing a girl.
On March 12, authorities said an undercover FBI agent began communicating with Gangler online, posing as a 15-year-old boy, seeking to meet with him to record sexual videos, including foot fetish content, in exchange for money.
“You’d be making the videos with me lol then I’ll help you sell them,” Gangler is accused of telling the agent in a chat. Agents said in a parallel to the March 5 report, he offered the would-be victim a cut of the profits. They said he sent the undercover agent a “sketch” of how to record videos for him.
Authorities said Gangler arranged to meet with who he thought was the boy on Saturday, agreeing to send an Uber for him from Miramar to their meeting spot, the CVS at 3401 Coral Springs Drive, near Gangler’s home.
The complaint states that Gangler got to the drugstore just before 1:30 p.m. and instead of a teenage boy, law enforcement officers were there to meet him.
Authorities said they searched Gangler’s bedroom and found “multiple devices” used for video recording, including a tripod and monopod, as well as “sexually explicit printed photographs of prepubescent minors.”
According to the complaint, Gangler invoked his Miranda rights and declined to speak with investigators as he was being arrested.
Records show that Gangler was set to appear in Fort Lauderdale federal court on Monday morning to face charges of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual behavior, attempted production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
As of Monday morning, he was being held in the Broward Sheriff’s Office’s Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service.
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