VCSO Detectives Arrest Relative, 24, at Deltona Home on Charges of Child Sex Abuse, Manufacturing Child Porn

Date Added: May 31, 2019 3:46 pm

VCSO DETECTIVES ARREST MAN, 24, AT DELTONA HOME
Relative Charged With Sex Abuse After Tip Leads to Discovery of Victims

Acting on a tip late Wednesday, detectives with the Sheriff’s Office Child Exploitation Unit worked through the night to investigate an active case of child sexual abuse, culminating in the arrest Thursday of a 24-year-old man at a Deltona home.

Taylor Forrest of Brooklyn, N.Y, (DOB 5/25/1995) was charged with capital sexual battery by a person 18 or older with a victim under 12, lewd and lascivious molestation by a person 18 or older, and direct/promote sexual performance by a child.

“How could anybody do this to a child? I cannot tell you how proud I am of these men and women for what they do. I couldn’t do it,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood told reporters in a news conference today while detailing the investigation and arrest of Forrest.

The sheriff praised detectives who spent 15 hours straight working on the case urgently.  “He was planning to do much more with these young victims. (Detectives) jumped in when they were alerted to it. They definitely stopped him.”

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit was alerted Wednesday night about a child exploitation investigation that ultimately led to a home in Deltona and involved two young female victims known to Forrest.

The investigation led to Forrest after the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office reported that a St. Cloud resident chatted in an online chatroom with someone who was later identified as Forrest. During the chat, Forrest provided several video clips of two young females depicted in sexually explicit situations. That’s when the resident contacted the Osceola Sheriff’s Office, where a detective traced Forrest’s identity through investigative means and notified the VCSO.

On Thursday, VCSO detectives sought an urgent search warrant and executed it, along with the ICE-Brevard-Volusia Child Exploitation Task Force, at the Deltona home. There, detectives made contact with Forrest, two young children and an adult female. In interviews with Forrest, he confirmed his username and that he had created the videos. Detectives seized electronic devices as part of the search warrant and located additional videos and photos containing child pornography.

Forrest was taken into custody and transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail where he remains held on no bail allowed.

More charges are possible as detectives search for additional potential victims of sexual exploitation. Anyone who may have been a victim of this suspect or any similar case is urged to call the Child Exploitation Unit at (386) 323-3574.