A Gainesville man was taken into custody May 17 on charges of 11 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography.
Jantzen Weaver, 22, was arrested on suspicion of possessing videos of adults performing sex acts on children, including infants and prepubescent kids.
Gainesville Police Department received reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Jan. 18 about a Snapchat account uploading and distributing child pornography.
Further investigation by detectives found emails tied to the account were registered with phone numbers associated with Weaver, according to a GPD arrest report.
Snapchat provided conversations that Weaver had with another user where he shared a child sexual abuse video. According to the arrest report, Weaver purportedly deleted the footage after sending it.
Officers contacted Weaver at his home May 17. After GPD read him his Miranda rights, Weaver confirmed the account belonged to him in an interview with the police.
Weaver found the video through Twitter and estimated he has viewed between 10 to 20 child sexual abuse videos since January 2023, he said. He also told police he was not a real threat to society because he dislikes being around children as they’re “too loud.”
In a preliminary search, officers found 44 videos of child sexual abuse material across his electronic devices.
Weaver was arrested at 11 a.m. and taken to Alachua County Jail. His next court date has yet to be scheduled as of May 18.
Contact Gabriel Velasquez Neira at gvelasquezneira@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @gvelasquezn.
Gabriel Velasquez Neira is a second-year Journalism major, and the Audio Editor and Metro GA Reporter. In his free time, he enjoys sleeping, taking photos and playing guitar.
