POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A Winter Haven man was arrested for hacking into the Polk State College student labs and scheduling database while having possession of child pornography, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced during a news conference Friday.
Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies on Thursday arrested 38-year-old registered nurse Brandon James Diaz.
A Polk State College worker started to have trouble signing into their labs and scheduling accounts in June, according to the sheriff's office. While trying to reset their password, it was revealed the password recovery hints were changed to "Sell Out" or "Ha Ha Ha Loser."
The sheriff's office reportedly worked with tech workers at the college and found an IP address connecting the hacking to Diaz.
Diaz used to work at the college as a clinical coordinator at the same time he worked at Lakeland Regional Health. He was fired from both positions after he failed a drug test, according to Judd.
"Well what I have to say to Brandon is 'Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas,' you got a jail cell for Christmas from us," Judd said.
Before his arrest, the sheriff's office says he also worked as an emergency department assistant nursing manager with AdventHealth Heart of Florida in Davenport.
When detectives interviewed Diaz, they say he confessed to accessing the PSC database from his personal computer.
He also admitted to changing the passwords of the program coordinator and instructor because "he blamed them for his termination," deputies explain.
Altogether, 10 accounts were tampered with and no evidence of personal identity information being stolen was found.
During the investigation, detectives also found child pornography on Diaz's computer, Judd said. The sheriff added that children as young as infants were being sexually battered in the videos discovered on Diaz's computer.
Detectives screened the children and had no indications Diaz sexually abused them at this point in the investigation.
Judd said Diaz went on the dark web to find the videos.
Diaz was arrested and charged with 75 counts of enhanced possession of child pornography along with 10 counts of access to a computer without authorization and use of a two-way device to commit a felony.
He is being held in the Polk County Jail with a bond set at $386,000.
"If you'd just have left everybody alone, at least for the time being, you'd be home for Christmas with your four children and your wife," Judd said. "But...you won't be by yourself for Christmas. You'll have 3,000 of your new best friends at the county jail system all alone with you.
"Share with them how you've got five brain cells and four of them went to the North Pole to see Santa Clause and left you with one to do this outrageous stuff."
The investigation is ongoing.