Attorney General Bill McCollum News Release
March 3, 2008
Media Contact: Sandi Copes
Phone: (850) 245-0150
Seminole County Man Re-Arrested, Charged With Possession of Child Pornography
~ Man was first arrested in November after traveling to meet a “child” for sex ~
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a Seminole County man has been taken into custody for the second time in less than four months after investigators discovered his collection of child pornography. Fredrick Daniel Cwik, Jr. was first arrested in November after he traveled to meet who he thought was a 14-year old girl, intending to have sex with her. Prior to the traveling, he had engaged in sexually explicit conversations with an undercover CyberCrime investigator, believing he was talking to an Orlando-area teen. Cwik, 40, was re-arrested today after investigators determined that Cwik was in possession of numerous images of child pornography, including several movies.
“This case exemplifies how deep the problem can be for a single individual and the length to which he will go with these dark and destructive actions,” said Attorney General Bill McCollum.
Investigators determined Cwik, of Lake Mary, was in possession of at least 20 images and of those images, 10 depicted sexual battery of a child and four are movie files. Therefore, under the CyberCrimes Against Children Act of 2007, 14 of the 20 counts against Cwik are elevated from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony. Continued investigation by the CyberCrime Unit and the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office of the computers seized after Cwik’s first arrest also confirmed that Cwik had engaged in sexually explicit conversations over the internet with underage girls multiple times and, prior to his first arrest, had potentially victimized at least one young girl. Additional charges may yet be filed. Cwik was arrested by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
Cwik’s November arrest occurred after he approached an undercover CyberCrime investigator in an internet chatroom and sexually solicited someone he believed to be a 14-year old girl. He also sent multiple pornographic images to the investigator, including three pornographic videos. Eventually, Cwik told the "girl" he wanted to continue their sexual relationship in person and attempted to meet her, but was instead arrested by law enforcement officers with the CyberCrimes Unit and the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. He had bonded out of jail but still faces charges of traveling to meet a minor for unlawful sex act, solicitation of a minor via computer, and multiple counts of transmitting material harmful to minors, in addition to the 20 charges of possession of child pornography filed today. Cwik could face nearly 200 years in prison if convicted of all the charges.
The November arrest was the second made by the Orlando CyberCrime Office, which hosted its grand opening in early October. The new location is the first additional office to open as part of Attorney General McCollum's statewide expansion of the unit, which has been operating out of Jacksonville since its inception in October 2005. Additional offices will open throughout the state over the next several months, including a Ft. Lauderdale location within the next 10 days.
The Child Predator CyberCrime Unit's mission is to protect children from computer-facilitated sexual exploitation. The unit does this by working cooperatively on a statewide basis with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to provide resources and expertise, while preventing the spread of these crimes through education and community awareness. The unit is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) of Central Florida, as is the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
A copy of Cwik’s booking photograph may be obtained from the Seminole County Jail.