GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – After Clay County Sheriff's Office deputies descended on the Silver Creek neighborhood of Green Cove Springs early Friday morning, a 19-year-old is now facing child pornography charges.
Cameron Rushing was arrested at his parent's home as the result of a Sheriff's Office cyber investigation that started in June, deputies said.
At that time, investigators said, they became aware Rushing was sharing files, and when he was contacted online, he distributed 70 files of child porn to the Sheriff's Office.
Investigators said they then served a subpoena on Comcast for subscriber information for the assigned IP, and that led deputies to Rushing’s house, where he was taken into custody Friday, and his laptop was seized as evidence.
"That's where they actually catch people -- requesting them to download and send them files of child pornography," said Gil Smith, News4Jax crime and safety analyst. "And once they receive the files from them, then with the IP address, they're able to make an arrest."
Officials with the Special Victim’s Unit told News4Jax that they were lucky they were granted a warrant in time for the raid, because Rushing and his family were set to move to Georgia on Saturday.
Investigators said after interviewing all of the people who live in the home, which includes Rushing’s parents and three younger boys, as well as gathering evidence like computers, hard drives and any electronic devices, they could make the arrest.
“The cybercrimes unit searches online for people who are transmitting or downloading or passing back and forth child pornography,” Lt. Patrick Golemme said. “We were able to learn there were numerous files being transported to and from this address.”
Neighbors said deputies had guns drawn as they raided the house between 6-7 a.m. News4Jax spoke to Rushing’s neighbor Trey Selph about the early morning raid and the child pornography charges Rushing faces.
“It kinda turned my gut, really does. Kinda sickening,” Selph said. “I have three boys here all under the age of five, and I have had little girls here, so that makes me wonder. It’s always been kinda odd, but we never knew anything.”
Because there are three younger boys in the home, News4Jax reached out to the Department of Children and Families to see if they had ever been called out to the home. Legally, they cannot disclose that information because of privacy laws. But deputies said at this time, it is not believed that the younger boys in the home were victims.
"It's not the mother's fault. It's not the family's fault. It's this grown teenager," Selph said. "He made the decision to act and he should be held accountable and suffer the consequences."
Another neighbor, John Cooper, said Rushing came by his garage sale three weeks ago, and he never thought he’d see him taken away by a SWAT team.
"It's over the top. I don't understand how you can do that or go there. It doesn't make any sense to me," Cooper said. "I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t want to wake up every day, I don’t want to have to explain it to my kids every day.”
Rushing will make his first appearance in Clay County Court Saturday morning.