Jacksonville, Florida - Anthony Davis Stagnitta (21, Jacksonville) has been arrested and charged by a federal criminal complaint with knowingly distributing child pornography using the internet. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years, and up to 20 years, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. Stagnitta was detained pending a detention hearing that is scheduled for May 24, 2018.
According to the complaint, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted an undercover child exploitation investigation and determined that an individual using a messaging application had distributed two videos depicting the sexual abuse of infant children. The user was traced to Stagnitta’s home. On April 30, 2018, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at his residence. During an interview, Stagnitta stated that he was a member of multiple group chats that discussed child pornography on this particular app, that he had sent videos containing child pornography to other app users via private messaging or posted them in the group chats, and that he had received approximately 150 files containing child pornography. An onsite forensic examination of Stagnitta’s smart phone revealed at least 25 images depicting young girls and boys being sexually abused.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
