Police find 200k images of child pornography weighing more than 1 ton in Florida man's home

A 72-year-old man was arrested for possessing a massive amount of child pornography weighing over a ton, according to Florida police.

Detective Chase King with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office told WCJB-TV that police received a tip in January about child pornography being uploaded online, and they traced the IP address to the residence of Paul Zittel.

On Thursday, police arrested Zittel after performing a search warrant at his address and finding more than 200,000 printed images in numerous boxes in his office and bedroom. They also found that a printer in his possession that displayed signs of heavy use.

The 50 boxes of images weighed more than a ton, said police, who said it was unusual to have so much physical evidence.

“The main difference in this one is that it is all in a printed physical form where is a lot of times, we’re seeing it on thumb drives or computers in a digital format," said King.

Zittel was charged with 25 counts of possession of child pornography.

The sheriff's office said that the man would never allow his roommates into his bedroom or office without an escort.

King issued a warning to parents about giving their children unfettered access to the world wide web.

“Always keep taps on what your kids are doing because what they can get into on the internet in ten seconds can lead to a world and lifetime of trauma and problems," he said.

One report found that the number of convicted child pornography offenders has decreased from 1,593 offenders in 2016 to 1,023 offenders in 2020. An overwhelming percentage of child pornography offenders were men, 99.7%.

Here's a local news report about the arrest:

Ocala man arrested after detectives find more than 200,000 printed images of child pornwww.youtube.com

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