Firefighter Faces Child Porn Charges Over Twitter Posts

A Miami-Dade firefighter is facing child porn charges for allegedly using Twitter to share photos of underage girls having sex.

Authorities say Gabriel Diaz, 38, posted thousands of pornographic images through the public micro-blogging site, which also has a private messaging feature and allows for protected accounts, between 2012 and 2013.

Police believe some of those images portray girls under age 18, including four that are described as showing 12-year-olds, according to an arrest document. He was arrested Thursday and charged with 16 counts of promoting sexual performance by a child.

Diaz is expected to bond out Friday afternoon but was ordered no contact with children, including his own two children.

Diaz has been placed on administrative leave, according to Miami-Dade Fire.

"He himself as a trained officer in this area, had difficulty ascertaining the age of the victims," Gus Lage, Diaz's lawyer said in bond court.

The case, which began after Twitter sent several images to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is believed to be the first investigation involving child porn posted to Twitter in Miami-Dade County, the Miami Herald reported. 

According to Diaz's arrest affidavit, thousands of pornographic images were uploaded to his Twitter accounts between April 2012 and December 2013. Several of the images listed in the complaint are close-ups of private parts of females under 12-years-old.

"He's a wonderful person, he's a wonderful family man, he's got two children that he adores," Lage said.

The rules page on Twitter.com bans pornographic photos as a profile picture, header or background, but not in tweets. Last year, the popular  social media site started using a program that flags child porn photos. Twitter then reports the images to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

This is a developing story, check back on NBC6.com for updates

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