A Naples man who faced more than four dozen felonies in a child pornography changed his innocent plea.
Jose Antonio Perez, 50, on June 2 pleaded no contest to 50 counts related to child pornography. Collier Circuit Judge Joseph Foster sentenced him to more than 16 years in prison.
Collier County sheriff’s deputies, along with the Southwest Florida INTERCEPT Task Force and Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, arrested Perez in 2024.
INTERCEPT stands for Inter-agency Child Exploitation and Persons Trafficking and was created in September 2023. The task force combats trafficking and exploitation throughout Southwest Florida.
The sheriff’s office said its investigation began after detectives received a cyber tip from the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children about multiple suspected child sex abuse files uploaded to a Verizon account.
Sheriff’s detectives obtained a search warrant, which they say revealed more child sex abuse images. Through their investigation detectives identified Perez as the suspect.
As authorities showed him the images they found in his possession, Perez confessed and said he was in a “dark place” at the time, according to his arrest affidavit.
Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@usatodayco.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran, Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews and Bluesky @tomasfrodriguez.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples man sentenced to prison after plea change to child porn
Reporting by Tomas Rodriguez, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Naples Daily News
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