[PHOTO CREDIT: Lake County Sheriff’s Office]
[Original Publish Date: 06/14/20]
CLERMONT, Florida — A Clermont man who allegedly used a chat app to exchange child pornography was arrested Wednesday after his home was searched by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Daniel Arthur Fogleson, 49, admitted to creating two Kik accounts and using them to view and exchange child pornography when FDLE searched his home, according to an arrest affidavit. Fogleson told an agent he originally created a Kik account to communicate with his teenage son, but no longer communicates with him using it; he said he discovered chat rooms and group chats where both adult and child pornography were exchanged.
A tip from Kik to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in April and then turned over to FDLE, started the investigation into seven digital files uploaded to Kik Messenger in February that contained images of sexually explicit images of children.
Agents subpoenaed the internet service provider requesting subscriber information for the IP address connected to the images and found that it belonged to a home in Clermont. On April 15, NCMEC again received a tip about three files containing images sexually exploiting children and those images were also uploaded using the same IP address, according to the affidavit.
Fogleson told an agent Kik shut down his first account due to the child pornography violating its terms of service and he created a second account using a different username and email. He thought at first Kik shut down his second account, but then realized Kik blocked the violating device – his cell phone — and he began utilizing a tablet to access his account.
The tablet was searched, and three files were found depicting females less than 12 years old performing sexual acts. Fogleson was shown the seven files from the first tip and he admitted to possessing and sharing them, according to the affidavit. The seven files he admitted to depicted juvenile females that appeared to be less than 3 years old to less than 15 years old, the affidavit states.
Fogleson was charged with 10 counts of possession of a sexual performance by a child. He was released Friday from the Lake County Jail on $20,000 bond.
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Our Editor-in-Chief, Marilyn M. Aciego, began writing for Lake Legal News in 2010. Born and raised in Lake County, she is a graduate of Umatilla High School and Lake-Sumter State College. She started her journalism career at LSSC, where she was editor of both student publications, The Angler and The Odyssey. Her professional career began at the Daily Commercial in 2004 where she covered cops and courts the majority of her time there until she left in 2009. Currently, along with being Editor-in-Chief of Lake Legal News, she is the Florida bureau chief for an international media organization. She has made more than two dozen appearances on live national television, including Nancy Grace and the Greta Van Susteren show, along with her appearance on Evil Twins. Contact her with breaking news, tips, and feedback by sending an e-mail to 352Tips@gmail.com. You can also contact us on our Facebook page — and make sure you “Like” and “Follow us” there. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
