Gainesville man arrested on child pornography charges

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Alexander William Callison, 28, was arrested yesterday on child pornography charges.

On December 10, a CyberTip was received about two videos with child sexual abuse material (CSAM) uploaded to a Kik account and then sent to another user account. The tip originally went to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, but the IP address turned out to be associated with a phone number on the account of a Gainesville man.

When the case was transferred to the Gainesville Police Department in April after Seminole County received the information about the phone account, a detective sent a search warrant to Kik for the contents of the Kik account, and a response was received on May 5. The contents of the account reportedly included 651 images/videos, 591 of which showed the same person masturbating (a thin, muscular white male with a cross tattoo on his chest and a second tattoo on his forearm).

The owner of the phone account did not match this description, but the detective found that a phone number on the account was associated with Callison, with an address in Duncan, OK. Callison’s Facebook profile reportedly included an update on June 8, 2024, in which he said he moved to Gainesville, and Callison appeared to be a possible match for the man in the videos.

On February 28, 2025, a second CyberTip was received from Kik, with one video and one image of CSAM. A subpoena to Verizon reportedly showed that the IP address used to upload the images was associated with the same phone number that had been linked to Callison.

The contents of the account reportedly included chats with other Kik users who identified themselves as minors, and Callison allegedly sent videos of himself masturbating after the other users said they were minors. The chats also reportedly included sixteen instances in which Callison asked users who identified themselves as minors for explicit videos or images.

On June 4, a search warrant was executed at the address associated with the phone account, and officers spoke with Callison. Post Miranda, Callison reportedly confirmed his phone number and said he’d had the number for a “few years.” He initially denied owning the Kik account, but when he was shown the videos of the man masturbating, he reportedly said he was the man and that he used Kik to connect with other people because he felt lonely and wanted to feel wanted. He reportedly said his behaviors had gotten worse and that he had gotten the CSAM material from other Kik users. He reportedly said he knew it was wrong and that he felt guilty about it; he said he’d been “waiting for his behavior to catch up with him” and wasn’t surprised to see the police.

Callison has been charged with two counts of distribution of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, and 14 counts of transmission of material harmful to minors. The arrest report also shows 16 counts of soliciting CSAM, but the jail site shows three counts of soliciting CSAM, and the court records site does not show these charges.

Callison has no local criminal history; Judge Jonathan Ramsey set bail at $430,000.

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.