JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 67-year-old St. Augustine man has pleaded guilty to transporting images and videos of child pornography from Florida to Canada.
Charles Gorish faces 15-40 years in federal prison. Gorish has been in custody since his arrest in St. Augustine on Sept. 7, 2012. A sentencing hearing has not yet been set.
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According to court documents, Gorish, using a fake name, sent a package by FedEx from St. Augustine to an individual in Ontario, Canada. The package was intercepted by Canadian law enforcement officers. It contained, among other things, two micro SD media cards with more than 600 images and videos depicting child pornography, and thousands of images of child erotica.
Canadian officials notified the St. Johns County Sheriff=s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations regarding the seizure of this package.
Further investigation revealed that Gorish is a registered sex offender. He was convicted in Hillsborough County on Feb. 24, 1992, for lewd and lascivious conduct on a child.
On Sept. 7, 2012, FBI agents and SJCSO personnel executed a federal search warrant at Gorish's home in St. Augustine. During an interview, Gorish admitted, among other things, that he downloaded the files depicting the sexually explicit images of young boys on the SD cards from the Internet, over a period of years. Gorish was subsequently arrested.