TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee IT specialist has been arrested after he admitted to investigators that he regularly downloads child pornography to stop his "urges" to physically act on a child.
Eric Hancock, 35, was arrested by the Leon County Sheriff's Office on Thursday.
In October, deputies were conducting online investigations on a specialized law enforcement network developed to identify offenders sharing child pornography. Through the investigation, deputies identified a device in Leon County that was in possession of multiple files that were indicative of child sex abuse material.
Based on information provided by CenturyLink to deputies, Hancock's home was identified as the only location where the files were being downloaded.
After obtaining a search warrant for the home, members of the North Florida ICAC Task Force comprised of LCSO, FDLE, and United States Department of Homeland Security investigators searched his house on Thursday.
Hancock was escorted out of the home and interviewed regarding the investigation. He admitted to downloading the child sexual abuse material and stated that he has "had a problem" for quite some time.
When deputies asked how long he had been downloading and viewing the child sexual abuse material, Hancock said "since I was a kid."
Hancock told deputies that within the last few years his activities included downloading the material and deleting the material once he was finished with it. He then would use a special software to "wipe" the files from the hard disk drive so he wouldn't be caught by his wife or law enforcement.
He also said that he downloaded the materials to stop his "urge," so that he wouldn't physically act out his desires on a child. According to court documents, he later recanted that statement, saying he would never act on any of his urges and would never hurt a child.
Investigators say Hancock is an IT specialist as well and is very knowledgeable about computer operating systems and the allocation of data. Hancock also told investigators he kept a log regarding his activities, stating that he had a hand written log and digital log on his cellphone.
After the interview, deputies found Hancock's hand written log, which contained logs that documented the dates he downloaded the child sexual abuse material.
The log made reference to the term "CP" with handwritten entries stating, "I slipped today. Looked at CP."
Due to his admission, Hancock is being charged with two counts of possession of obscene material of sex performance of a child and 15 counts of possession of a photograph of sexual performance by a child.
He was taken to the Leon County Detention Facility where his bond has been set at $85,000.
