Alachua man arrested on child pornography charges

Staff report

ALACHUA, Fla. – Jonathan Ellis O’Steen, 34, of Alachua, was arrested on December 9 following an FDLE investigation into a CyberTip about child sexual abuse material.

On January 8, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Special Agent received a CyberTip about child sexual abuse material on a Kik account. The same day, the agent sent a subpoena to Google for information about the owner of the email address associated with the Kik account.

The response to the subpoena reportedly included Google Pay transactions in the name of Jonathan O’Steen and a phone number that has been associated with O’Steen since 2016. A search warrant for the Google account reportedly produced “internet searches for images and viewed images which contained several pedophilic searches.” The Google account also reportedly contained images of O’Steen’s driver’s license and Social Security card. Three more child sexual abuse images were reportedly found in the Google account.

The recovery email for the Google account was a Yahoo account, and a subpoena to Yahoo produced Jonathan O’Steen’s name and another phone number.

An IP address used to log in to the Yahoo email account and an IP address that was included in the CyberTip were both associated with a Windstream subscriber in Alachua. An IP address used to log in to the Google account was associated with a different Windstream subscriber in Alachua who lives near the first subscriber; O’Steen’s driver’s license was reportedly changed to use that address in September 2024.

A search warrant for the suspect Kik account reportedly produced six images, some of which showed juveniles engaging in sexual activity.

A search warrant for the Yahoo email account reportedly produced an email attachment showing an image of O’Steen’s Florida driver’s license.

Based on the affidavit from FDLE, Judge James Colaw issued a warrant for O’Steen’s arrest on December 5, and he was arrested by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office on December 9. The case will be prosecuted by Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

O’Steen has been charged with seven counts of possession of child pornography and one count of using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony. He has no local criminal history. Judge James Colaw’s warrant set bail at $1.1 million.

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.