Facing arrest for child porn, St. Cloud man commits suicide
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A St. Cloud man killed himself Tuesday as law enforcement officers were preparing to arrest him and his father for creating and distributing child pornography.
Henry Cox died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound before he could be served a federal warrant for his arrest, St. Cloud police said in an email. James Cox, 79, was arrested on Tuesday and is currently being held in the Seminole County Jail without bond while he awaits trial.
The arrest comes after St. Cloud police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in November 2023 alleging the IP address linked to Henry and James Cox’s home was uploading graphic naked images of prepubescent girls to Microsoft BingImage, according to an affidavit.
On January 19, police conducted a search of the home on Countryside View Drive where they discovered hundreds of pictures of naked children on laptops and over 50 videos. Some of the images were filmed inside the home with video equipment that enables the user to film discreetly.
Other images depicting exposed children were filmed in public restrooms, according to the affidavit. The videos and pictures were taken between January and July of 2022.
During their review of the seized equipment, St. Cloud officers were able to identify two of the children in the videos as a 12-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl that live in the Cox’s neighborhood. Officials determined that Henry Cox was the producer of the videos and photographs by analyzing the bedroom shown in the images and the voice in the background, according to the affidavit.
James Cox admitted to St. Cloud PD officers that he had searched for child porn and recognized the images from the initial NCMEC tip.
But Henry Cox did not admit to anything and said he had no knowledge of possessing any child porn in an interview on the day of the search, the affidavit said.
