Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) task force arrested Timothy Mirabal from Rockland County, New York on Oct. 28 for allegedly downloading and distributing child pornography videos showing sexual assault involving little girls and a toddler.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed in New York's Southern District, Monday, Mirabal allegedly used a Russian-hosted phone application that allowed him to link to a folder containing illegal photos.
Mirabal, 28, has a particular application which he allegedly used for child sexual abuse. The law enforcement officers in Minneapolis obtained and accessed a group message connected to the application. It was in early September that they found a folder with images of child pornography.
The owner of the email address that was used to create the folder has a unique IP address. The service address was linked to his Rockland County address. The police traced it to Mirabal's father and to a phone number to which he was also allegedly connected.
The FBI Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force led the arrest of Mirable on Oct. 28 with charges of downloading and distributing child pornography.
Two days before Mirabal's arrest, a search warrant was authorized. During the capture, Mirabal's father was the one who opened the door for the agents. He also permitted them inside their house. His son came out of the bedroom and spoke to his dad and agents in the living room.
They explained the search warrant to the defendant. Mirabal together with his father went to the basement to have some private talk. The accused asked investigators to keep the details of the warrant away from his parents.
Mirabal allegedly took responsibility and acknowledged the warrant. He accepted the charges of possessing child pornography. He allegedly admitted that the images would likely be found on his old cellphone, which he pointed to be upstairs, inside a drawer. Mirabal also said that he used a messaging application installed on the phone to "trade" child pornography, as narrated in the criminal complaint.
As authorized in the search warrant, law enforcement is studying and looking thoroughly into the communications used by Mirabal. They allegedly found multiple occurrences where two users appeared to talk about the ages of the children related to the illicit images, also there were three video files of little girls. The officers were able to find the identity of all of the children involved.
Video files found through messaging applications were found on Mirabal's cellphone. The FBI is still in the process of investigating the case. The Bureau has asked anyone who may have information to call the agency's New York office at 212-384-1000 or submit a tip on their website.
