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Kevin Edward Whitty
Arrested on Monday was Kevin Edward Whitty, 48, of 8595 E. Hooker Place.
According to the arrest report, the investigation began with a complaint from the mother of two underage girls who found photos on a cell phone given as a birthday present to one of her daughters by Whitty of what she said was an underage girl posing in a provocative manner, wearing bikini bathing suits or very little clothing.
The victim, 9 years old, and her 12-year-old sister were interviewed by a Citrus County Sheriff’s Office detective. The 12-year-old told the investigator she saw pictures of the victim on the Whitty’s digital camera, taking a bath in the common bathroom at Whitty’s home. She said the first three pictures were of the victim bathing naked and she could see the victim’s breast area in those pictures. She also said the next couple of pictures were of the victim looking surprised and trying to cover up with the shower curtain. She said that she asked Whitty why he took pictures of the victim, and he told her not to tell her mother.
The victim told the detective she was running a bath on that day, and when she shut the water off, she heard a noise. When she looked up, she said, she saw Whitty taking pictures of her with the digital camera, and asked Whitty what he was doing and he told her, “nothing.”
The detective executed a search warrant for Whitty’s home. Whitty has known the victim’s family for about four years, the arrest report says, and told the detective the victim and her sister used to stay over frequently at his home, and they have their own bedroom there. Whitty admitted to taking a photo of the victim, the arrest report says. He also told the detective he had pictures of both girls on a Compact Disc, and had other CD’s in his bedroom with child porn he downloaded from the Internet, but which did not contain photos of the victim or sister.
Inside Whitty’s closet, the detective saw about 10 posters of prepubescent females, including the victim and her sister, in frames hanging up on the wall. All of the females were wearing clothes. Inside a locked door in the closet, the detective found more poster-sized pictures of the type seen elsewhere. After removing those poster-sized photos, the detective found more than 200 pictures of naked prepubescent females.
The arrest report says that about 140 of those photos showed the young girls either performing sexual acts or posing in a lewd manner, exposing themselves. Another 42 showed the girls performing sexual acts.
Inside a drawer, the detective found pictures on a CD of the victim naked, in the bathtub. Also found were photos of other young females the detective identified as child pornography.
Whitty was arrested and taken to the county jail, where he was charged with video voyeurism and possession of child pornography. Total bond was set at $712,000.
