A Marion County Sheriff’s Office detective in Florida arrested a 72-year-old man found with “over one ton” of child pornography material last Thursday, the office announced this week.
Authorities identified the man as Paul Zittel, a resident of Ocala, Fla. He was charged with 25 counts of possession of child pornography.
Last month, the detective received information that “multiple files depicting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) had been uploaded to the internet,” and linked the files to IP addresses assigned to Zittel. Then, a search warrant was obtained for Zittel’s residence.
This warrant was executed last Thursday and authorities searched Zittel’s home. During the search, they discovered “countless printed photographs of pornography, many of which depicted CSAM,” arranged into large stacks and boxes in his bedroom and office, as well as a “printer on his desk displayed obvious signs of heavy use.”
Overall, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office estimated that Zittel has 220,000 printed images that together weigh 2,600 pounds. Others who lived at the residence said that he would not allow them inside his bedroom or office “without personally escorting them.”
According to the Thorn organization to stop child exploitation, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children receives more than 29 million reports of sexual exploitation each year.
“That’s over 563,461 reports per week,” said Thorn.
Detectives seized the massive collection of materials found at Zittel’s home, the printer and a digital storage device. He was transported to the Marion County Jail, where he remained held on a $250,000 bond as of Monday.
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