Federal Jury Says Guilty to Miami Man Who Spent A Year Distributing Child Pornography | USAO-SDFL
Miami, Florida – Following a three-day trial, a South Florida federal jury found 31-year-old Miami resident William Gross Jr. guilty of distributing child pornography.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Gross spent a year on a social media messenger application chatting and sharing videos and images of children being sexually abused. In the chats, Gross boasted about his sexual exploits with young girls, asked for explicit videos of young girls having sex, and sent a picture of his penis to ask if a young girl could “handle” it.
The jury found Gross guilty of seven counts of distributing child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment. Sentencing is set for April 27, at 2:30 p.m. before U.S. Senior District Judge Paul C. Huck.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, announced the jury’s verdict.
FBI Miami — in particular FBI Miami’s Child Exploitation Task Force — investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph Egozi and Abbie D. Waxman.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), 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, 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 the Project Safe Childhood initiative and for information regarding Internet safety, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-20532.
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