The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office arrested psychiatrist William Hervey for allegedly possessing child sexual abuse material.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — A Palm Harbor psychiatrist was arrested for alleged possession of child sexual abuse material, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.
PCSO announced that William Hervey, 61, was detained on Tuesday after detectives served a search warrant at his residence and seized multiple electronic devices for examination, where they claimed to have initially found images of children between the ages of 6 and 8 years in various sexual poses.
Detectives said that after further review of the seized devices, they found more files, some of which “included videos and images of children as young as four years of age engaged in sexual acts.”
The investigation began when detectives got information about a child sexual abuse material file being accessed and shared online, PCSO said. According to the sheriff’s office, through investigative techniques, they were able to identify Hervey as the suspect.
“Through the Child Victim Identification Program, the images were identified as being a part of a documented Russian child pornography series,” detectives said.
PCSO says Hervey is a board-certified psychiatrist and owner of Advantage Mental Health Center in Clearwater. According to the Department of State’s Sunbiz records, Hervey is listed as president of the company.
Hervey was taken into custody and booked in the Pinellas County Jail. According to jail records and deputies, he was charged with multiple counts of possession of child pornography.
Deputies added that the investigation is ongoing.
During a June 17 press conference about a separate case of a Seminole man also facing possession of child sexual abuse material, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said that the number of tips that his office has received of similar cases in 2026 is up by 73%, noting that the problem is “off the charts” and “not getting better.” The sheriff expressed frustration and noted that he does not know how to solve this, except for doing thorough investigations and continuing to work on cases like these to deter others.