DANIA BEACH, Florida. – It was 6 a.m. Thursday. A military-style unit from the Broward Sheriff’s Office entered a two-bedroom apartment in Dania Beach to arrest Anthony Cruz, a suspect in a child sexual exploitation case.
Two other people lived with 40-year-old Cruz in the apartment in the Danians complex near East Dania Beach Boulevard and Southeast Fifth Avenue – and about a mile from an elementary school.
According to the BSO arrest report, officers had a search warrant and found Cruz’s Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone on his bed, which contained more than ten images of child sexual abuse victims, some as young as four years old.
“I also found additional files containing child pornography in a search warrant for the defendant’s Kik account,” BSO Detective Christopher DePelisi wrote in the report about the mobile instant messaging app Kik.
The child sexual abuse images associated with Cruz’s Kik account featured both boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 13, DePelisi reported, according to the arrest report.
MediaLab.AI, a California-based digital media company, notified the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children about the Kik account “hwd28th,” registered under the email address “[email protected].” The center notified law enforcement.
“Through legal proceedings and additional information, I was able to identify and locate the defendant,” DePelisi wrote in his report.
BSO corrections officers transported Cruz to Fort Lauderdale Main Jail on Thursday and he appeared in bond court on Friday. He faces 11 third-degree charges: 10 counts of possession/control/display of sexual conduct involving a child and one count of compiling computer pornography involving a minor.
A judge set his bail at $110,000, including $10,000 for each count.
Investigators asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
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