A Gainesville man was arrested Monday on suspicion of uploading over 30 child pornography videos.
Frederick Landt IV, 38, was charged with 12 counts of the promotion of obscene material, after allegedly uploading child pornography to the online-messaging platform Kik.
Kik tipped off the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Jan. 1, 2022, after users reported an account with four illegal videos on them, according to the arrest report.
The videos contained prepubescent girls performing sexual acts, and in some instances showed adult men raping them, according to the report.
The email, IP address and login associated with the account led law enforcement to find the phone number the email was registered with, which was allegedly under Landt IV’s name, according to the report.
After additional tips came in from Kik Dec. 7, law enforcement found another 27 additional child pornography videos on the account. Throughout 2021 and 2022, Landt IV would allegedly send these videos to other accounts on Kik, according to the report.
Landt IV allegedly also took several selfies and nude photos on the account, with a coffee table routinely in the videos later being identified in his home.
GPD approached Landt IV’s home where they met with his wife Dec. 8. She told officers that he was in Ocala for a job interview and took his electronics with him.
Officers later arrested Landt IV Monday at his home and took him to the Alachua County Jail. His bond is set at $480,000.
Landt IV was believed to be involved in multiple youth athletic programs in Ocala, though law enforcement doesn’t believe the photos or videos were children he knew, according to a press release.
As of Tuesday evening, his next court hearing is not yet scheduled.
Contact Aidan Bush at abush@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @aidandisto.
Aidan Bush is a fourth-year journalism major and the Summer 2024 Editor-in-Chief of The Alligator. In his free time, he likes to listen to music and go kayaking.
