Two men were arrested for possession of child sexual abuse materials in separate busts, as NBC6 accompanied the Miami police department's Internet Crimes Against Children Unit in what they described as the culmination of rigorous investigations.
Chris Herrera was the first target who was taken in custody at his grandparent’s home in Allapattah. Herrera is a registered sex offender who was already on probation for an arrest in 2017, when he inappropriately touched a child and was caught with disturbing images of children on his devices.
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WATCH HEREThis time, detectives say the 27-year-old violated probation by downloading more child sex abuse materials. And police found disturbing evidence that he was talking to a woman online about detailed plans to have children and start an incestuous family.
With assistance from Miami Beach and Aventura police, the same detective from Miami re-arrested Herrera in this case. Authorities are trying to identify the woman he was speaking with.
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Thursday morning, Ronny Sanchez was also taken into custody in Miami. Police say in July they got a hit through Google that he was also downloading child sex abuse videos.
Police said they learned that Sanchez he had been doing this for three years, and authorities at first discovered over 1,500 images. That number later increased to more than 6,500.
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Photos from police show the extensive set up—including phones, servers, routers and computer equipment—that were found in Sanchez’s room.
City of Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales spoke about the nature of these crimes and how it can takes months of investigative work behind the scenes to make an arrest.
"They're going out there after the most vulnerable members of our community, the children," Morales said. "This is a crime that often goes unnoticed and unreported. What they do, the hours that they labor sitting behind a computer trying to track down these damn predators that are going after the children--it's absolutely exhausting. It is, you know, mentally draining."
"It seems as the years go on, we're kind of getting more and more tips assigned to us, so this is a growing issue here in the city of Miami," an undercover agent said. "Anytime we can take somebody off the streets that's exposing our children, it's a win for us, a win for the city of Miami."
Both men were booked into jail and are expected to face a judge Thursday.
