FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. (TCN) — A 64-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 30 counts of possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
In March, the St. John County Sheriff’s Office intercepted a bit torrent download that contained 96 videos of child sexual abuse, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. They saw that the person attempting the download was in Flagler County, and they tipped off authorities there. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on April 16 at the home where the downloads were believed to have come from, and multiple devices believed to contain CSAM were found.
When interviewed by authorities, Scott Beverst said he had been viewing child sexual abuse content since 2001 and that he preferred content featuring girls between the ages of 11 and 14.
FlaglerLive reports that Beverst had moved into his parents’ house five days before the download was intercepted. He told investigators he was familiar with the dark web and accessing “subterranean” content.
According to the outlet, he told investigators the history of a known CSAM series, including that the girl featured in it later attempted suicide because of the abuse she endured. He also told investigators that victims seen in CSAM “looked dead in their eyes, or like they had rings around them as if they were on drugs or trafficked into this situation.”
Beverst reportedly made AI-generated images of girls he knew, including neighbors, and in one case, the daughter of a dead ex-girlfriend. FlaglerLive reports that he told investigators he was always searching for a “bigger thrill” and was afraid he would abuse a child one day.
According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, Beverst was initially charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography following the investigation in April. After his arrest, 16,000 files containing CSAM were found on his devices, and some of those files reportedly contained sadomasochistic material. He was charged with an additional 20 counts of possessing child sexual abuse material.
Beverst pleaded guilty to all 30 counts on Oct. 7 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said, “I said at the time of his arrest that the amount of child sexual abuse material this guy had was sickening, and that wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg of what our detectives ended up finding. This disgusting pervert earned every second of the next two decades he’ll be behind bars, plus being designated as a sex offender for the rest of his life.”
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