Florida high school computer technician sentenced on federal child porn charges

ORLANDO, Fla. — A man working as a computer technician specialist at a central Florida junior and senior high school was sentenced in federal court Thursday to 155 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release for distribution and possession of child pornography. This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Steven Waring, 32, of Titusville, Fla., was employed by the Brevard County School Board at Space Coast Junior/Senior High School. According to court documents, Waring made his collection of child pornography directly available for others to download from his IP address and shared directory. Law enforcement officers conducted a forensic examination of his home computer and found 704 movies depicting child pornography involving prepubescent children.

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-DHS-2ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.