Florida police arrested a man after an undercover investigation that led to hundreds of charges of possession of child and animal pornography, but they found far worse at his home.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said that a police investigation into online predators seeking underage victims led them to 28-year-old Austin Drue Hoffman, of the city of Brandon.
Detectives were posing as children online when Hoffman allegedly revealed to them a “much darker, troubling” side of his life.
Investigators said Hoffman lied about his age and said he was 19 years old.
Police first arrested Hoffman in May 2022 and charged him with using a computer to illegal acts while misrepresenting age and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
“This is why we do this kind of operation; we want to find the predators before they find our children,” said Chronister.
After they obtained a search warrant for his phone, what they found led to hundreds of other charges.
In December 2022, he was arrested again and charged with 100 counts of out of state transmission of child pornography by electronic device and another 100 counts of possession of child pornography (realistic computer-generated videos).
In addition to those, he was charged with four counts related to possession and transmission of child pornography and two counts related to possession and transmission of image or video of sexual activity with animals.
Investigators then searched his home and suspected that he had allegedly committed sexual acts with underage victims. They were able to identify three victims who told police what Hoffman had allegedly done to them.
As a result, he was charged with a number of other crimes, including traveling to meet minor after using comp services/devices to solicit certain illegal acts, unlawful sexual activity with a minor, and promotion of a sexual performance by a child.
“These kinds of investigations are not easy for our detectives, who are subjected to the worst things a person can see, and then must go home and live a normal life in our communities,” said Chronister.
“They are the heroes who sacrifice in order to find and rescue the victims of these predators, and work to ensure they have a chance at justice within our legal system,” he added.
Hoffman was jailed under a $3 million bond.
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