A Boca Raton doctor is facing a slew of charges after authorities discovered a small digital library of obscene content involving children in his possession. Steven Friedenthal, 63, was hit with 30 counts of child pornography after the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) acted on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as reported by CBS12. The material was believed to be stored on Google Drive and included thousands of images and videos of abused children.
Arrested on Wednesday, Friedenthal, from Century Village, a Boca Raton retirement community, is now residing behind bars at the Palm Beach County Jail. Holding one terabyte of explicit content, his digital collection could've stored over 300,000 photos or approximately 500 hours of HD video, highlighting the magnitude of the purported crime. In a CyberTip report, a Google user was flagged for uploading the disturbing material, and upon further investigation, Friedenthal was identified as the account holder, as stated by the arrest affidavit.
Upon executing a search warrant for his Google account, authorities uncovered the explicit material alongside selfies of Friedenthal and emails addressed to him, confirming his ownership of the account, according to CBS12. Alarmed by the events, Alyce Rubin, the doctor’s neighbor, told CBS12 reporters, "He was odd, put it that way. From day one, I didn't have a good feeling about him." However, when asked about any indications of Friedenthal involvement in child pornography, she said, "Never, never, never, never."
The specific circumstances that led to Friedenthal's apprehension are unclear, but online storage and social media companies are known to alert the National Center for Missing and Expired Children over potential illegal image storage or transmission. Jail records indicate that Friedenthal was booked into jail at 9:03 PM on Wednesday, with bond yet to be set as of early Thursday, as disclosed by BocaNewsNow.com. Court records suggested no prior interactions with local law enforcement for Friedenthal.
Living reclusively and mostly unseen by neighbors, Friedenthal reportedly kept to his apartment — an observation that someone made who declines to give their name. Speaking to CBS12, they expressed a common sentiment found in such community shockwaves, "I think it's sick. Real sick." The case continues to make his neighbors uneasy, as Rubin revealed her nervosity about possibly living next to Friedenthal again and his quiet lifestyle that once kept her from any suspicion.
