Deland man sentenced to more than 12 years on child pornography charges

ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida man was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years and seven months in federal prison and 20 years of supervised release for receipt of child pornography. The sentencing resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

According to court documents, Orlando Ismael Muniz, 58, of Deland, downloaded and collected thousands of images of child pornography using a peer-to-peer file sharing network. Law enforcement officers conducted a forensic examination of Muniz’s computer and found 17,847 images and 149 movies depicting the sexual exploitation and abuse of prepubescent children.

As part of his sentence, the court also ordered Muniz to forfeit his computer equipment and register as a sex offender.

Muniz pleaded guilty April 27.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.