Mount Dora Man Found Guilty Of Possessing And Receiving Child Sexual Abuse Material

Ocala, Florida – Following a bench trial, U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber found Brett Eugene Baldwin (43, Mount Dora) guilty of one count of possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and three counts of receiving CSAM. Baldwin faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each count, with a 5-year minimum sentence on each receipt count. The sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. 

Baldwin was indicted on December 20, 2023. A superseding indictment was returned on February 6, 2024.  

According to evidence presented at trial, on November 28, 2023, Baldwin’s cellphone was seized during an unrelated state investigation. Pursuant to a search warrant, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) reviewed an extraction of Baldwin’s cellphone that revealed Baldwin had thousands of files depicting CSAM, primarily of young children. After his first cellphone was seized by law enforcement, Baldwin obtained a second cellphone. The second cellphone was later seized and searched pursuant to a warrant. FDLE found that Baldwin had downloaded thousands of files depicting CSAM onto his second cellphone.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Mount Dora Police Department, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.