'She started viewing child pornography out of curiosity... would become aroused,' cops say

WILDWOOD, Fla. (TND) — This case started as too many others do: a cyber tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, flagging someone's "IP address as containing apparent child pornography."

Authorities subpoenaed the IP address “to determine the physical location of the incident” and it led to a home in Florida.

Then, in mid-June, they got a search warrant and visited the home of the person they'd soon arrest: a woman, 21-year-old Samantha Chevy Lee.

“The defendant waived her rights,” a detective wrote in the arrest report, “advising that she wished to speak with us.

“During the course of the interview,” the detective wrote, “the defendant disclosed that she started viewing child pornography out of curiosity.

“The defendant was asked if she could describe any of the images or videos she saw.

“The defendant advised that she recalled viewing several videos that depicted children, from ages 5 to 10 years of age, engaging in sexual intercourse with adult males, matching the videos that were depicted in the ICAC cyber tip.

“The defendant further described viewing approximately 50 videos depicting child pornography, including one video of an infant [explicit]...

“The defendant was asked if she ever stored or saved any of the images or videos, to which the defendant advised that she would only view the material on Kik or by links that were sent, which would bring her to an outside source or website for viewing.

“The definitive advised that she would screen-record some videos that she would view, as opposed to actually downloading the links, and would share the videos with other users [sic] would frequently deactivate and reactivate her account.

“The defendant also disclosed that she would become aroused [explicit]”

“The defendant advised she had been viewing this type of material for several months and would trade or exchange different website video links with other Kik users, both in general group chats and private messenger.

“The defendant advised that she would not store any of the videos on her device and would only keep the screen recordings for sharing, then immediately delete them.

“The defendant disclosed she had only used one device to view child pornography material, her personal black iPhone XR which is enclosed in a pink metallic flaked case with a pop-socket attached to the back.

“The defendant further advised that she keeps a ‘note’ in her iPhone Notes application with website links for some of the material that she has viewed.”

The detective listed three website URLs and wrote they “are no longer active.”

Finally, the detective described “the videos associated with the ICAC cyber tip, which were acknowledged by the defendant depicting prepubescent children engaged in sexual activity.”

Lee was charged with four counts of possession of child pornography and four counts of transmitting child pornography.

Her bond was set at $2,500 for each charge, for a total of $20,000, and she was released after 27 hours in jail.