Pembroke Pines man accused of possessing child sexual abuse material
A Pembroke Pines man is facing multiple charges after police accused him of uploading more than three dozen child sexual abuse files to a Google Drive account.
According to an arrest form, police were tipped off to 22-year-old Patrick James Gallagher in late May, when Google notified the Broward County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that one of its users “uploaded files that potentially contained child exploitation material to his Google Drive account.”
Google provided police with Gallagher’s name and email address.
Pembroke Pines police Detective John Sammarco wrote that he reviewed the 37 files provided by the company and determined that they were child sexual abuse material.
“Most of them were video files of juvenile males and females having various sexual acts performed on them,” Sammarco wrote.
Over the following months, police were able to obtain subpoenas and search warrants.
On Monday, officers took Gallagher into custody following a traffic stop at 193rd Avenue and Sheridan Street.
“At this time, we have no evidence to suggest that Gallagher ever physically interacted with any juveniles during the commission of these crimes,” PPPD spokesperson Amanda Conwell said.
Gallagher faces 10 counts of sexual performance by a child and one count of computer pornography, police said.
