TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A Tallahassee lawyer will spend seven and a half years in prison after investigators found thousands of digital files containing child pornography inside his apartment.
Lawrence Keefe, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced Wednesday that David Wayne Aring, 49, was sentenced to spend 90 months in prison (seven and a half years) after pleading guilty to a federal charge of receipt of child pornography.
Investigators said Aring was an attorney employed by the State of Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation at the time of his arrest in January 2020.
Between March 26, 2017, and December 2, 2019, investigators said Aring used a peer-to-peer file sharing program to download digital images and videos depicting child pornography at his former Tallahassee apartment.
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When they searched his apartment on Jan. 7, investigators located a USB storage device and a desktop computer.
On that device, they found thousands of digital files that "contained child pornography, including bestiality and bondage involving children under the age of 12 (most notably infants and toddlers)."
“Child pornography is an offense that violates all standards of decency and causes incalculable harm to its victims, shattering their innocence and potentially devastating their lives,” U.S. Attorney Keefe said.
Upon further investigation, agents found that Aring had installed a peer-to-peer file sharing program that was used to search for terms leading to child pornography, and the file sharing program was found to have been used to download over 17,000 files since May 6, 2018.
“We are appreciative of the diligent work of our agents and our partners in Homeland Security Investigations that led to the apprehension of this individual, and grateful for the prosecutorial action of the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said Mark Perez, Special Agent in Charge of the FDLE Tallahassee Regional Operations Center. “Protecting the most vulnerable of our citizens will always be a priority of FDLE.”
Aring’s prison sentence will be followed by lifetime supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender, and will be subject to all sex offender conditions.
