Newberry Man Arrested for Possession/Transmission of Child Pornography

NEWBERRY ‒ Richard Henry Kautz, 32, was arrested on Wednesday, May 10, and charged with five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of transmission of child pornography.

On Jan. 23, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received tips about two Snapchat accounts with child exploitation material. Another tip was received about an Instagram account on March 3 with one of the same images and a third tip was received on March 23 about an Instagram account that also had the same image.

A subpoena for the owner of the IP address associated with the uploads produced an address in Newberry where Kautz lives. His photo reportedly matched the photos on the Instagram accounts. A search warrant was executed by Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies at that address on May 10 and the residents were interviewed.

Post Miranda, Kautz at first denied any knowledge of why the deputies might be at his address, but he later admitted that he is attracted to child sexual abuse material. He reportedly admitted owning the Snapchat and Instagram accounts and said the other residents of the house were not involved.

Bail was set at $2,500 for each one of the 10 counts that he was charged with for a total of $37,500. Bail was set by Judge Mark W. Moseley.

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