Alarming revelations about a South Florida politician who apparently took his own life. Police indicate he also had child pornography on his cellphone.
Opa-locka Commissioner Terance Pinder died early last week after police said he ran his vehicle into a tree, just outside the airport, before he was to turn himself in on bribery charges.
A search warrant NBC 6 examined shows police, during their bribery investigation, stumbled across images that caused the lead detective to immediately take action.
Judge Christina Miranda granted a search warrant for Pinder's cellphone and inside was reportedly child pornography.
The investigator wrote: "...While conducting a forensic examination, for evidence related to bribery, Det. Arias observed images of suspected child pornography. A female minor below the age of 13 engaging in oral sex. A female under 5, and female under 10, were also seen in the cellphone images."
Some of the other pictures found are too graphic to describe.
"I think it's very sad. I met him a few times. He seemed nice to me. It's sad what happened," said Darla Johnson, Opa-locka employee.
Local
The documents show, within hours of the forensic expert from Miami Beach Police finding the images, the lead detective was asking Judge Miranda for another search warrant. This one for Pinder's Opa-locka apartment. The investigators wanted to see what was in his computer, CDs and flash drives, anything that also may contain child pornography. The judge allowed them to go on the search.
These search warrants were executed back in March and that's when the material was located in his cellphone.
It's unclear whether Pinder was aware police found this material on his phone or whether he knew detectives were trying to see what, if anything else along these lines, he may have had.
