A Hollywood, Florida man has been arrested on charges of distributing child sexual abuse material online, a heinous crime uncovered due to the vigilant efforts of law enforcement. According to Local 10 News, 21-year-old Rovens Pascal engaged in the vile trade of selling videos, some depicting the rape of toddlers, to an undercover officer for the grotesque price of $30.
Triggered by tips from concerned citizens, the investigation by Hollywood police in collaboration with federal agents began in earnest after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children flagged suspicious activity. The court documents detailed how once, a social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, closed an account associated with Pascal back in September 2022 after he was found uploading abuse material. Despite this, the accused managed to slip back into the digital shadows, continuing his criminal activities under a new account one year later, which was also shut down.
Undeterred by these account closures, Pascal was still active and was caught in the act when an "online undercover employee," as stated in the federal criminal complaint, initiated communication with him through the messaging app Telegram according to both Local 10 News and the EP News. The operation led to the disturbing discovery that Pascal was willing to sell a vast archive of child sexual abuse material, boasting to have over "200GB" of such files.
Following detailed undercover operations, Pascal didn't hesitate to stoop lower, tailoring his horrifying inventory to the sickening specifications of buyers posing as child predators. In one case described in the court documents, he was approached by a second operative who inquired about videos depicting "toddlers," to which Pascal disturbingly provided a sample video of a 2-year-old girl being raped, according to Local 10 News.
The investigation culminated in a search of Pascal's home, where authorities discovered the depraved man was back on platform X. His communications with another user contained a screenshot showing "several" child sexual abuse videos, as found in two cellphones in his possession. U.S. Magistrate Judge Panayotta Augustin-Birch determined Pascal was to be held without bond on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography until a bond hearing set for the following Wednesday. He remains in custody at the Broward Main Jail, adding another dark chapter to the ongoing fight against the scourge of child exploitation.
