Pembroke Pines man charged with several counts for possessing child sexual abuse material
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – A man from Pembroke Pines is facing charges after the police said he uploaded more than 30 child sexual abuse files to a Google Drive account.
According to an arrest form, police were tipped off about 22-year-old Patrick James Gallagher in late May, when Google notified the Broward County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that one of its users “uploaded files that potentially contained child exploitation material to his Google Drive account.” Gallagher was taken into custody after Google said that one of its users “uploaded files that could have contained material about child exploitation.”
The identity and email address of Gallagher were disclosed to the authorities by Google.
In his report, Detective John Sammarco of the Pembroke Pines Police Department said that he examined the 37 files that were supplied by the corporation and found that they included evidence related to the sexual abuse of children.
“Most of them were video files of juvenile males and females having various sexual acts performed on them,” Sammarco wrote.
In the months that followed, the police were able to get search warrants and subpoenas.
After pulling Gallagher over for a traffic violation on Monday, law enforcement authorities placed him under arrest near the intersection of 193rd Avenue and Sheridan Street.
“At this time, we have no evidence to suggest that Gallagher ever physically interacted with any juveniles during the commission of these crimes,” PPPD spokesperson Amanda Conwell said.
According to the police, Gallagher is being charged with 11 counts of sexual performance by a kid and one act of internet pornography.
