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Collier County Sheriff's Deputies arrested a man in Golden Gate, Florida for possession of child pornography. Jose Aguiar, 23, was charged with 23 counts of the offense, which is codified at Florida Statute 847.0135. Police throughout the state have been cracking down on the transmission of lewd images of children.

Law enforcement officials believe that Aguiar was using a peer-to-peer file sharing network to obtain and transfer the pornographic images of children. Each count of possession of child pornography is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in a Florida state prison, in addition to thousands of dollars in fines. Aguiar therefore faces a maximum penalty of 115 years in prison for the images police allegedly found on his computer.

Peer-to-peer file sharing was initially popularized for sharing music, which is often downloaded for free and in violation of relevant copyright laws. Now, it enjoys a broader audience, and users can find and share images, video, and audio files. For that reason, peer-to-peer file sharing software has become a main method of trading pornography, including child pornography. The users do not typically have any contact with one another; instead, a user can simply browse or search for the type of media he wants to view. If another user has matching files in his 'shared' folder, the software will allow the searching user the download the media files directly from the second user. Law enforcement officials and music executives alike have found the files difficult to track in part due to the pervasiveness of the software.

The sheriff's office anticipates forthcoming child pornography possession arrests in addition to Aguiar's, although it is not clear if any of the anticipated arrests involve file-sharing or the sharing of any of the files Aguiar is accused of having in his possession.

The worst nightmare of most parents is to have a missing child. Every year, thousands of children, aged birth to 18 years, are reported missing to law enforcement agencies. High profile abduction cases, such as those of Jimmy Ryce Elizabeth Smart have fueled the fears of parents and caretakers, and possibly led to a false perception of how infrequently child abduction by strangers actually occurs.

When children are reported missing, it could be for several reasons: running away, parental abandonment, abduction by a family member, abduction by a stranger, being lost, an injury, sexual victimization, and false alarm situations in which there has been a miscommunication about the child's location. Abduction by a family member is the most common type of child abduction. These situations most commonly occur when the parents are in the process of separating or have already divorced. A parent may kidnap the child because he or she does not want to allow the child to go on a designated visit with the other parent (or alternatively, to have to return the child following such a visit) or even simply to be spiteful towards the other parent. Occasionally, a stranger will abduct a small child - usually a baby - for the purposes of rearing it as her own. These heavily publicized cases often occur after a woman fakes a pregnancy; she then stages a kidnapping of a newborn in the generally misguided belief that others will think she gave birth to the child.

Sex crimes, especially child sex offenses, concern parents throughout Florida. The likelihood of a child being abducted for purposes of rape or molestation and murder are slim, but not impossible. Nationally, between 200 and 300 children are abducted into situations in which their lives are at risk. More, however, become the victims of sex crimes, whether or not the child was actually abducted.

If you have been accused of a sex crime in the Florida, contact the statewide criminal attorneys at Musca Law.

Unfortunately, one of the most common forms of child abuse is the shaking of infants. Frequently, inexperienced caretakers, like baby-sitters and family members, or even young parents, become overwhelmed with the task of caring for the child. The caretaker may become extremely tired and angry, usually about the baby's crying. The caretaker may shake the child violently in an effort to force the baby to stop crying. The violent shaking motion injures the child's neck and head.

The infant may lose consciousness, even suffering from brain damage. Babies have large heads and skulls in relation to their body size, but they are still developing. An infant's skull remains somewhat "soft" to allow for the comfortable expansion of the child's head. The shaking can break blood vessels in the child's head, causing bleeding and swelling in the skull. Ultimately, the child's brain can hemorrhage from the shaking. If that occurs, serious brain damage may result and the infant is at risk of dying.

Medical personnel may be tipped off by a shaken baby's symptoms or an injury that just does not add up. The caregiver may act as though he is not aware that the child is injured or he may have developed an unlikely cover up story. The key indicator for this type of child abuse crime is head trauma.

Shaken Baby Syndrome was first recognized in the 1970s and affects only babies who have suffered that particular form of child abuse. Victims may show many symptoms, such as vomiting, failure to thrive, dilated pupils, and even a larger-than-normal head. The baby may seem cranky or it may not breathe normally. Broken bones on the torso, such as the ribs or parts of the infant's back, are also key signs that a baby is being abused in this manner. The person perpetrating the child abuse is more likely to be male.

Shaken Baby Syndrome results in the death of about one-third of the infants who experience it; another full third suffer long-term effects as a result of the child abuse. They may have seizures as adults, learning or speech disabilities, cerebral palsy, and problems with sight.

If you have been accused of a crime anywhere in the state of Florida, contact the statewide criminal defense team at Musca Law.