Gainesville man arrested on child pornography charges
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Michael Edwin Harris Jr., 37, was arrested yesterday for allegedly possessing conventional and computer-generated child sexual abuse material.
A Gainesville Police Department detective investigated two separate CyberTips from Kik accounts that were later tied to Harris; the tips included both conventional child sexual abuse images and generated child exploitation material, which was described by the detective as “any depiction created, altered, adapted, or modified by electronic, mechanical, or other computer-generated means to portray a fictitious person who a reasonable person would regard as a real person, younger than 18 years old, engaged in sexual conduct.”
The original tip included two images of generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and four images of generated child erotica. A chat from this account, included in the arrest report, referred to images of well-known actresses and other celebrities that were modified to make them appear younger. The detective noted that in one chat, the Kik account possessed and distributed one CSAM image, four generated CSAM images, four generated child erotica images, and 22 animation computer-generated CSAM images.
The second tip included a CSAM image that a Kik account possessed and distributed to another account in a private chat. A chat from that account referred to a “fake chat” where generated images were shared; the two accounts discussed generating “fakes” of “little girls.” The detective noted that in this chat, the Kik account possessed and distributed two CSAM images.
The login IP address for both Kik accounts was traced to a home in Gainesville, and officers executed a search warrant at the home on July 23.
Post Miranda, Harris reportedly said he didn’t have a phone, but he later said there were two phones in his bedroom that he’d found in the trash and on the side of the road; he said he didn’t want to answer any questions without a lawyer.
A search of the residence reportedly produced a cell phone, powered on, hidden in a linen closet outside Harris’s bedroom; the phone was logged into the email address associated with the Kik accounts and was signed into a new Kik account. The phone also reportedly contained a picture of male buttocks that was found in one of the Kik accounts and images that matched those provided by Kik. Harris later reportedly acknowledged that the phone belonged to him.
Harris has been charged with three counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of distribution of child pornography, and four counts of possession of generated child pornography. He has no local criminal history, and Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $360,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.