A Plantation man, Carl David Cunningham, age 38, has been arrested on federal child pornography charges following an FBI raid at his apartment, authorities reported. The complaint, filed Wednesday, details Cunningham's alleged involvement in the distribution and possession of child pornography through the messaging app Kik. The accusations center around Cunningham sharing videos depicting the sexual abuse of young children, including some clearly under 10 years old.
The investigation into Cunningham started back on Feb. 8 when Plantation Police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Kik had notified the center that 39 suspected child porn files were uploaded to an account in November, according to NBC Miami. The suspect had also been involved in conversations to openly trade such materials and had shared messages that he "seeks out children for sexual encounters while bragging about his past sexual experiences," Local 10 obtained in a statement.
Authorities linked the IP address connected to the Kik account to Cunningham's Plantation residence. Moreover, images on the Kik user's account depicted a man with features similar to Cunningham's driver's license photo, including, notably, a beard and an arm tattoo corresponding to one publicly displayed on his personal "Everyman Tactical" YouTube channel, according to details in the criminal complaint.
Following surveillance of Cunningham's apartment at 6851 Cypress Road, the FBI SWAT team executed a search warrant of the premises. Post-raid, Cunningham denied having been in possession of a Kik account or engaging in the sharing of any child sexual abuse material. Nevertheless, he now faces serious federal charges and has appeared in Fort Lauderdale federal court. He is currently being held in the Broward Main Jail and awaits a pre-trial detention hearing, set to occur Friday morning, and his arraignment on April 23, as detailed by Local 10.
