Palmetto man charged with downloading child pornography

A 48-year-old Palmetto man was arrested after he downloaded videos of children being sexually abused by adults, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Manatee County deputies arrested Kirk Oliver on Monday.

FDLE investigators monitoring websites known to pass child pornography picked up on Oliver’s activities in late May, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

On May 23, a FDLE special agent documented two videos that were downloaded using Oliver’s IP address depicting children being sexually abused by adult men. Investigators said Oliver downloaded a third video on May 27 of another child being sexually abused.

Agents tracked the activities back to Oliver and issued a subpoena in July for his IP address, which revealed multiple downloads. A search warrant was obtained in late August for Kirk’s residence in Palmetto and FDLE agents seized several electronic devices.

The videos had been deleted, but agents were able to recover them, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. A forensic examination of Oliver’s devices was conducted in September and an arrest warrant was obtained Sept. 22.

Kirk was arrested less than a week later and booked into the Manatee County jail on three felony counts of child pornography possession. He remains in custody on bonds totaling $75,000.