Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Christopher Deon Flintroyal Jr., 18, is facing 10 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, according to Gainesville Police.
A Gainesville Police Department detective investigated 11 CyberTips submitted through Instagram, Discord, Snapchat, and Dropbox involving reported child exploitation images and videos. Investigators said IP addresses connected to several of those CyberTips traced back to a Gainesville residence owned by one of Flintroyal’s relatives.
Authorities said a review of account names tied to the CyberTips led detectives to identify Flintroyal as the person associated with the accounts. The detective also noted that Flintroyal would have been a minor at the time the CyberTips were initially reported.
On August 27, the detective contacted Flintroyal, who reportedly agreed to speak with the detective inside an unmarked vehicle parked outside the residence.
After being advised of his Miranda rights, Flintroyal reportedly first said his accounts had been hacked. He then agreed to allow detectives to search two cell phones. Investigators said Flintroyal later changed his account and admitted he owned the accounts identified in the CyberTips, but stated the videos had been sent to him in group chats while he was still a minor. He reportedly insisted that no child sexual abuse material, commonly referred to as CSAM, would be found on his phones.
However, after a detective reportedly located “numerous” CSAM videos on one of the phones, Flintroyal allegedly said he had been unable to delete the Google account containing the images and therefore had not been able to remove them from the device.
The detective told Flintroyal that although the CyberTips were filed when he was a juvenile, he was being arrested because he allegedly still possessed the images as an adult. Flintroyal reportedly acknowledged that he should have deleted the account or gotten rid of the device, and he also reportedly admitted to viewing other CSAM videos on another app.
The arrest report describes ten videos, which mostly show prepubescent or pubescent juvenile male and female subjects masturbating or in sexual poses while partially or completely nude.
The detective noted that about 20 more CSAM videos were found in the initial search, so there may be more charges after both phones are searched.
Flintroyal has been charged with 10 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material. His full criminal history is unavailable because those documents are not posted for sexual offenses, but he has no local adult criminal history. Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $250,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
