A UF student was arrested on Tuesday and charged with possessing child pornography and sexually grooming two children.
Arthur Young, 22, was charged with five felonies as the result of an investigation starting in October. A tip submitted by Discord, a social media site, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sparked the investigation. The tip reported a user engaging in sexual conversation with a minor.
The tip originated from a Colorado walk-in report made at the end of September by one victim’s mother, according to the arrest report. The mother told law enforcement that her 12-year-old daughter had been the victim of sexual grooming after meeting an unknown 21-year-old on Chatib, an online chat room, in May.
The conversation moved to Discord after the girl shared her age, where investigators found Young requesting and receiving child sexual abuse images from the victim. According to the arrest report, Young sent the 12-year-old sexual images and videos of himself. The victim told investigators they would video chat while showering.
In October, Colorado investigators identified Young through messages found in a Discord search warrant of the account, according to the arrest report. The Colorado investigators then contacted the Gainesville Police Department with the information.
In February, GPD investigators received records of Young’s Discord account. They identified him through facial images and UF student information found on his account, according to the arrest report.
Investigators found over 40 sexual images of Young and evidence that he was sexually communicating with another victim, a 14-year-old girl. Young requested child sexual abuse images from the 14-year-old and sent sexual images of himself before and after learning the victim’s age, according to the arrest report.
In another Discord chat, Young told a 13-year-old girl he was 17 and requested to video chat.
According to the arrest report, she responded, “i dont wanna wake up my parents ?”
Based on more chats found on Young’s Discord account, there was evidence Young was communicating with other children, according to the arrest report. Additional charges are pending based on the results of an investigation into the chats.
On Tuesday, a search warrant was executed on Young’s apartment at the Lark. Young wasn’t present during the search, but GPD officers seized a laptop from his bedroom. The login information for Young’s laptop matched the email that was reported in the original tip.
According to the arrest report, investigators were able to match the inside of Young’s apartment to the background of the images found on Discord.
Young was arrested outside the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at around 8 p.m. He refused to speak to law enforcement and requested an attorney, according to the arrest report. Law enforcement seized Young’s cell phone and iPad from him when he was taken into custody.
Young is a UF pre-law business senior and was planning to graduate in May 2025.
He was charged with five felonies, including the possession and solicitation of child pornography. Additional charges are pending based on identification of more potential victims from Young’s Discord account.
Contact Kaysheri Haffner at khaffner@alligator.org. Follow her on X @kaysheri_h.
Kaysheri Haffner is a second-year journalism major and the Criminal Justice reporter for the Alligator. When she's not on the clock, she can be found reading a book or working on a creative writing project.
