WAKULLA COUNTY, Fla. — A registered sex offender in Wakulla County is behind bars after admitting to downloading several videos and photographs of child pornography, including one that depicted a 3-year-old girl.
James Magers, 39, was arrested by the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office on Friday.
On Aug. 8, 2018, Magers arrived at the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office for his mandated Sexual Offender registration. WCSO said Magers has been a registered Sex Offender since August 2010, following a conviction for possession of child pornography.
Following his Sexual Offender registration, CID Detectives investigated the information Magers provided. During an interview, Magers was asked why he used alias names on his social media accounts and he responded, "because I like it to be where nobody knows who I am."
CID Detectives subsequently obtained probable cause to believe there were electronic devices, computers, cellular telephones, and other items which could contain images, downloads and access to the internet being kept at his home in violation of his sexual offender restrictions.
On Thursday, WCSO obtained a search warrant to search his mobile home and motor home. The next day, the search warrant was executed by CID Detectives and Special Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Internet Crimes Against Children squad, which helped in the evidence collection and forensic examination.
Magers was present when the search warrant was executed and deputies found multiple hard drives, cellular telephones, tablets, laptops, and flash drives. They were taken for subsequent submission to the FDLE Crime Laboratory for extraction. In addition to the electronic devices seized, a 12 gauge shotgun and a .22 rifle were also found.
Magers was interviewed and admitted to downloading several videos and photographs of child pornography. Magers stated he believes he has a "problem" and is "addicted" to watching child pornography and erotica.
He said that he had attended "classes" for child pornography possession in past cases, however, the classes "didn't work" and he would resume downloading shortly after he completed the mandated courses. Magers was confronted with child erotica videos seized from his devices depicting a 3-year-old girl.
He further admitted to ownership of cell phones taken during the search warrant execution and stated he downloaded several videos within 24 hours prior to the search warrant being executed. Magers confessed to ownership of a variety of accounts, all of which he had not reported pursuant to his mandated registration requirements.
Further he stated he previously saved child pornography to certain Facebook accounts.
Magers is being charged with possession of child pornography, 11 counts of failure to report Internet identifiers, one count of failure to report a cellular telephone number, and two counts of possession of a firearm by convicted felon.
He was taken to the Wakulla County Jail. The investigation is ongoing due to the amount of electronics submitted for forensic extraction.
If illegal pornography is found on these electronic devices, additional charges will be forthcoming.
