Zephyrhills man sentenced to 7 years for receiving child pornography
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida man was sentenced Thursday to seven years in federal prison for receiving child pornography, ordered to a life term of supervision and must register as a sex offender following his release from prison. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
According to court documents, Aaron Bicknell, 28, of Zephyrhills, used an Internet file sharing program to download child pornography. After a search warrant was executed at his residence, he was found to be in possession of more than 3,500 images depicting child pornography, including more than 150 images depicting sadomasochistic conduct. Bicknell pleaded guilty March 18.
“It is disturbing that this predator had thousands of images depicting horrible crimes against children,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “HSI will continue to work with our state and local partners, like the FDLE and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, in making our communities safer.”
“Each one of Bicknell’s movies and photographs represents a child who has been sexually abused,” said FDLE Tampa Bay Special Agent in Charge Rick Ramirez. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate these types of cases.”
This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,300 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.
HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196. 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-THE-LOST.
For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.
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.
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