{"id":250134,"date":"2026-04-28T20:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/250134\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:26:07","slug":"ucf-student-faces-20-felonies-over-child-porn-on-kik-accounts-ag-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/250134\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF student faces 20 felonies over child porn on Kik accounts, AG says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ORLANDO, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/University%20Of%20Central%20Florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">University of Central Florida <\/a>student was charged with multiple felonies after investigators say he possessed, transmitted, and solicited child sexual abuse material through online messaging accounts.<\/p>\n<p>Joshua Smith, 21, is facing 20 charges, including 18 counts of possession of child pornography, one count of transmission of child pornography, and one count of soliciting a child for unlawful sexual conduct using a computer device, according to court records and the <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/Florida%20attorney%20general\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida Attorney General\u2019s Office<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation began after the University of Central Florida Police Department received a cyber tip from the <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/topic\/National%20Center%20for%20Missing%20and%20Exploited%20Children\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">National Center for Missing and Exploited Children<\/a>. Authorities say the tip indicated Smith was using multiple Kik messaging accounts to download illegal material and communicate with minors.<\/p>\n<p>Smith was arrested Feb. 25. A forensic examination of his cellphone allegedly revealed numerous files of child sexual abuse material. Investigators later obtained a warrant to access data associated with Smith\u2019s Kik accounts, which they say uncovered additional illegal files and messages in which Smith attempted to solicit minors and arrange the exchange of prohibited material, according to the news release. <\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/suspicious-person-triggers-heavy-law-enforcement-presence-near-lake-worth-school-pbso-lake-worth-community-high-school-deputies-lake-worth-beach-palm-beach-county-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Suspicious person triggers heavy law enforcement presence near Lake Worth HS: PBSO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Attorney General James Uthmeier\u2019s office announced the charges on Tuesday, describing the case as part of an ongoing effort by state and local law enforcement to investigate internet-based crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children.<\/p>\n<p>If convicted on all counts, Smith could face up to 280 years in prison under Florida sentencing guidelines.<\/p>\n<p>The case will be prosecuted by Senior Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Lauryn Day in Florida\u2019s Ninth Judicial Circuit, according to the AG&#8217;s office. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A University of Central Florida student was charged with multiple felonies after investigators say&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-250134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}