Man with ties to Ocala youth sports programs arrested for distribution of child pornography
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Frederick Edgar Landt IV, 38, was arrested yesterday and charged with 12 counts of distribution of child pornography. According to a release from Gainesville Police Department (GPD), Landt is believed to have strong ties to youth athletic programs in the Ocala area, where he previously lived. Investigators have no reason to believe that the images or videos obtained depict children who are known personally by Landt, but GPD asks anyone with concerns to reach out to the Department.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip on January 1, 2022, from Kik, a social media site, regarding child exploitation by a user of the site. The videos were reportedly uploaded and shared with another user on December 9, 2021, and the videos were reported to Kik on December 27.
GPD Detective Montague learned that the images and videos were uploaded from IP addresses in Gainesville and Ocala that are both associated with Landt, and the phone number associated with the email address used for the Kik account was found to be associated with Landt.
A search warrant was executed on December 8, 2022, of Landt’s Gainesville residence. Landt was not home when the search warrant was executed, he had taken several of his electronic devices with him, and attempts to locate him were unsuccessful, but several electronic devices believed to be owned by Landt were collected.
Another CyberTip was received on December 7, 2022, with 27 videos of child sexual abuse material that were uploaded between November 18-20, 2022, and detectives learned on February 1, 2023, that the videos were uploaded from the same IP address in Gainesville.
A search warrant issued to Kik reportedly produced the content from the original CyberTip, a selfie of Landt, and 35 images and one video of the genital area of the same man. Twenty-eight of the child exploitation images reportedly show a distinct-looking coffee table, and a similar coffee table was reportedly photographed during the execution of the December search warrant at Landt’s residence.
After Landt’s arrest, a search warrant was obtained for photos of his genital area; detectives reportedly determined that the pictures matched images and videos reported in both CyberTips.
Landt has no local criminal history; he entered into a pre-trial diversion agreement for a marijuana possession charge in Marion County in 2015. Bail information is currently unavailable.
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.Â
I would be suspicious of any many who wants to work with very young children- i.e. elementary school age or lower. This is a time in a child’s life when they are best served by the tender care of a woman. Once they reach middle and high school age, that’s when a man can have a better impact on molding a young life. But any man who wants to get close to, let’s say a 6 or 7 year old that is NOT his son or daughter, yeah that is a little suspicious in my books. And if you have children of that age I would keep your eye out for this.
The article didn’t mention any ages, but sexual exploitation of anyone, especially of anyone under 18 by someone much older, is wrong. Also, responsible men are just as suited as responsible women to work with “very young children” as pediatricians, counselors, teachers, coaches, and more. In fact, the ill-conceived presumption about the suitability of women as opposed to men to work with very young children is why sexual exploitation by women goes underreported.
chicken hawker, needs to be in prison with a weight bench he can bend over!
This guy will be a human punching bag in prison