- April 20, 2024
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An online sting operation led to the arrest of a Palm Coast man Feb. 21 after law enforcement found more than 1,000 files depicting child pornography on his computer.
Mickey Berwaldt was arrested at his house on Rose Drive after deputies served a search warrant on his home and discovered the files.
On Jan. 2, an official who was conducting an Internet investigation to find people who possess and share child pornography found a source sharing 280 files on a peer-to-peer network most of which had names indicative of child pornography.
The official made contact with the source, later identified as Berwaldt, again on Jan. 29. This time, Berwaldt’s computer was sharing 146 files. Most of the files had names indicative of child pornography. The files shared were recorded and presented to Circuit Judge John Walsh, who subsequently signed a warrant to search Berwaldt’s house.
The resulting search produced two computers. The first was forensically examined and found to contain in excess of 1,000 files, mostly videos, depicting young boys engaged in sexual acts.
Berwaldt was charged with promoting sexual performance by a child and computer pornography. He remains in the Flagler County Inmate Facility on $100,000 bail.
