Crime & Safety News

Cyber Tip Leads to Arrest of Man Possessing Thousands of Child Pornography Images

by Ryan Yousefi August 8, 2023

by Ryan Yousefi August 8, 2023 86 views

Cyber Tip Leads to Arrest of Coral Springs Man Who Admits to Possessing Thousands of Child Pornography Images

Michael Jolly. {BSO}

By Ryan Yousefi

Following a cyber tip that prompted an investigation of his social media account and residence, a Coral Springs man faces 13 felony charges — including ten counts of possessing child pornography — due to the discovery of illicit images.

On April 19, Coral Springs Police detectives began investigating a cyber tip they received from the National Center of Missing or Exploited Children concerning child pornography that the instant messaging platform Discord had discovered a user sharing.

According to the cyber tip, the user, later identified as Michael Jolly, 25, of Coral Springs, was found to have uploaded child pornography to the messaging platform beginning in March.

Records show as the investigation continued, in May, a judge granted a Discord search warrant request that led to the further discovery of an alarming amount of child pornography in Jolly’s possession. Arrest records include images of children as young as five years old in sexually provocative positions, many in lingerie.

From May until July, investigators continued applying for and being granted search warrants, leading to even more images saved within Jolly’s Discord account.

On July 31, a residential search warrant was granted, and on August 4, Coral Springs SWAT descended upon Jolly’s residence, located near the 6100 block of Northwest 53rd Circle, to perform a search.

Upon executing a search, Coral Springs SWAT removed all residents from the home, including Jolly, who they took into custody to conduct an interview.

According to records, Jolly was placed in a police vehicle where he initially denied all accusations against him but confirmed both the Discord account and a connected Telegram account belonged to him.

During the interview, Jolly denied trafficking in child pornography and gave consent to detectives to confiscate and search two devices found in his home.

After reviewing the devices, detectives performed a follow-up interview with Jolly. He was notified that child pornography images were discovered on his phone, including images detectives recognized as the same they had viewed in the cyber tip report.

Confronted with the evidence, Jolly changed his tone, admitting to obtaining thousands of child pornography images from a particular website.

Jolly was arrested and transported to the Broward County Main Jail.

Detectives note in the report that Jolly’s devices have been turned over for a deep forensic examination to thoroughly examine how many images he possessed, how far, and where they were spread.

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Author Profile

Ryan Yousefi

Ryan Yousefi has lived in Coral Springs for over 30 years. He has worked as a writer for multiple outlets over the years, including the Miami New Times where he has covered sports and culture since 2013. He holds a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Business Healthcare Management from Western Governors University.