TAMARAC, Fla. — Federal agents arrested a Tamarac man on multiple charges Thursday after they said he used a popular chat platform and currency used in a popular online game to entice children ― some under 12 ― into sending sexually explicit photos and videos.
A federal criminal complaint states that the investigation into Evan Michael Sands, 26, began with a tip from the messaging platform Discord.
That tip, sent to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and forwarded to the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in December, pertained to two child sexual abuse videos shared through Discord depicting girls who appeared to be 6 years old, authorities said. The videos, they said, were found in Sands’ account.
Federal agents said they applied for a search warrant for Sands’ Discord account in January and got data from the company in March.
“The Discord data revealed that Sands, using the username, astraldrag0n#0, engaged in numerous conversations with children under the age of 18, some under the age of 12, where he solicited the children to send him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves,” the complaint states.
Sands, authorities said, also sent the children explicit videos of himself and identified himself “by name and address and his place of employment.”
They said the search warrant revealed that he was also sending child sexual abuse images and videos through the platform.
According to the complaint, agents executed a search warrant on Sands’ home in the 8100 block of Northwest 105th Avenue on Thursday. They said they also pulled him over after seeing him leave before the raid.
The complaint states that agents searched his phone and saw videos depicting the rape and sexual abuse of children as young as babies.
It states that during an interview, Sands admitted to sending the explicit content on Discord and admitting to enticing children by giving them “Robux,” a virtual currency used on the online game Roblox.
Agents said that Sands “admitted that he believed the youngest minor that he solicited” was 12 and confirmed that he send children explicit videos of himself.
“He estimated his sexual conduct with minors started in 2021,” the complaint states.
Sands now faces two federal charges related to the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, as well as one count of enticement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual behavior.
Records show he was scheduled to appear in Fort Lauderdale federal court at 11 a.m. Friday.
According to court documents, prosecutors are expected to ask that he be held on pre-trial detention.
As of Friday morning, Sands was being held in the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail facility on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service.
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