An 84-year-old Gainesville man was arrested Wednesday on multiple felony charges of child pornography, according to a Gainesville Police Department report.
Robert Merrill McBride was charged with two counts of distributing child pornography, one count of possessing it and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
McBride is a registered sexual offender. He was convicted in 1988 for lewd assault of a child under 16. His most recent registration was March 18.
On March 12, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip from Microsoft about suspected child sexual abuse material uploaded to Bing Images. The content was linked to an IP address based in Gainesville.
The Gainesville Police Department issued a subpoena to Cox Communications. McBride’s name and the residence associated with his IP address were sent back March 30.
Police executed a search warrant at McBride’s residence Wednesday. According to the report, McBride initially denied possessing child pornography but later admitted officers would find it on his device. He told police he would view the images when his wife was away at weekly appointments.
The email address linked to the reported images was not included in his most recent sex offender registration, according to a police report.
McBride was found to have uploaded two images of child pornography, with one including “seven images,” to Bing Images, according to the report.
McBride remains in custody as of Thursday. No bond has been set.
Contact Logan McBride at lmcbride@alligator.org. Follow him on X @logandmcbride.
Logan McBride is a journalism junior and the Summer 2025 city commission reporter. In his free time, he enjoys watching TV shows or playing basketball at Southwest Rec. He is also a big football fan and will die for Dak Prescott.
