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Palm Bay Man Gets 10 Years for Child Sex Abuse Material
Orlando, Florida – A Palm Bay man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for using the internet to transport and possess videos depicting the sexual abuse of young children.
A jury found Xzavier Scholtens, 20, guilty of the charges on April 28, 2021, after a trial. Scholtens was also ordered to serve a 25-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, the case arose from an online undercover operation conducted by agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in McAllen, Texas.
The undercover operation targeted individuals who were using a social media platform to trade and distribute child sex abuse images and videos. On November 19, 2019, Scholtens directly messaged one of the undercover agents and offered to "trade." The undercover agent responded that Scholtens should send something first, in order to receive something in return.
A short time later, Scholtens sent a hyperlink that led to a cloud storage folder that contained 12 videos. Each of the videos depicted the sexual abuse of young children whose ages ranged from 1 to 15 years old.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in McAllen, Texas and Rockledge, Florida and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang.
This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Sex Crimes|Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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