A 20-year-old DeLand man who was caught with multiple videos and photos depicting child pornography of children, ranging in age from infant to 11 years old, will spend nearly 70 years behind bars.
On Friday, August 30, 2024, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office announced that Anthony Lee Rowell has been sentenced to 68 years in state prison. A cyber tip led to his arrest on October 16, 2023, at the age of 19, on 30 counts of possessing sexual performance by a child.
According to authorities, VCSO received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which alerted the law enforcement agency that Rowell had shared or received child pornographic material online.
The tip led detectives from the Child Exploitation Unit to execute a search warrant at Rowell’s home in DeLand.
During the execution of the search warrant, multiple cellphones, computers, laptops, hard drives, video recorders, and tablets belonging to Rowell were seized for forensic examination.
In addition, VCSO detectives stated that they also found multiple videos and photos of sexual exploitation of girls and boys “estimated to range from infant to 11 years old,” according to the sheriff’s office.
During their investigation, VCSO determined that Rowell had uploaded multiple files containing child pornography and sent the files to other users.
Rowell’s lengthy prison sentence will be followed by lifetime sex offender probation and lifetime sex offender designation.