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The Brevard County Sheriff's Office has announced the arrest of an employee from Brevard County Public Schools on charges of possessing child pornography.
James Anthony Cohen, 35, was taken into custody on Tuesday, May 23, and charged with 10 counts of possessing material depicting the s*xual performance of a child, as reported by Law&Crime.
Cohen worked as an instructional assistant for special needs students at Tropical Elementary School and held a position at KinderCare child care. When the case unfolded, he was placed on administrative leave and was immediately suspended from his role following the arrest.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, in a Facebook live video, called the discoveries deeply unsettling and highly repulsive, emphasizing that the images depicted the distressing acts of binding and assaulting babies.
Additional charges to be likely filed against the Brevard County Public Schools' employee
Cohen was arrested after law enforcement received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), reporting the uploading of child s*xual abuse material by an individual in the area.
The investigation began with information provided by the internet service provider, which led investigators to a residence in Melbourne controlled by Cohen and his father.
A search warrant was executed on May 18 at Cohen's residence, where police seized two laptops, four cell phones, and two tablets.
On one of those devices, deputies found 170 videos and 10 images depicting children and infants, according to a press release.
During an interview at his place of employment, Cohen allegedly admitted that the identifiers mentioned in the cyber tip were his, and confessed to viewing the images. However, he claimed to have deleted them.
"Multiple images depicted the s*xual abuse of children and infants by adults to include penetration and bondage. Upon the discovery of this evidence, an arrest warrant for Cohen was obtained, and he was taken into custody without incident."
Sheriff Ivey also stated that additional charges would be filed against Cohen. The 35-year-old suspect has been booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex, where he is being held without bond. As of now, no trial date has been scheduled in his case.
"People like him shouldn’t be allowed to walk among us:" Sheriff Ivey
Brevard County Sheriff, Wayne Ivey in a Facebook live video described the material as sickening, disgusting, unequivocally evil and said:
"In my 42 years of law enforcement, I don't think I've ever seen anything as disturbing as the videos that we have recovered as part of this case."
He added:
"That’s the kind of video this person was literally enjoying watching. People like him shouldn’t be allowed to walk among us."
Sheriff Ivey also criticized Spectrum, Cohen's internet service provider, for taking months to provide the subpoenaed information. He expressed dissatisfaction with the delay, stating that it put innocent children's lives at risk.
According to Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, Cohen was employed by the school district in 2022 following a background check, which revealed no significant criminal history except for a driving charge.
