TAMPA, Fla. — A man from Tampa was arrested for multiple counts of possession of child pornography, records show.
Law enforcement arrested Joseph Watkins, 31, on June 15, 2022, for sexual battery and transmission of material harmful to a minor, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. He was then booked into the Pinellas County Jail but later bonded out on Aug. 5.
Detectives, however, continued their investigation on Watkins for several months and through various techniques, they located several files of child pornography on his cellphone, law enforcement says.
Authorities say the images on the cellphone were of children between the ages of 5 and 12 years old.
"On March 15, 2023, detectives arrested Watkins at the Pinellas County Justice Center before a pre-trial hearing for the original charge," the news release reads. "When Watkins was interviewed by detectives, he denied knowledge of the files."
The 31-year-old was charged with 10 counts of child pornography. Deputies say the investigation remains ongoing.
