A Gainesville man was arrested Wednesday morning for nearly 20 charges relating to communicating sexually with minors and sending sexual material to minors.
The charges against Aaron Ross Robison Eliot-Gaines date back to Aug. 4, according to a Gainesville Police Department arrest report.
On Aug. 6, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip from Snapchat stating one of its users was participating in child exploitation and the transmission of harmful material to a minor.
A 14-year-old Snapchat user reported the incident to the app, stating the suspect sent a picture of his genitalia while he was in the shower, according to the report.
At the time of the report, the suspect had his age listed as 16 years old on the app.
In documentation provided by Snapchat, the suspect requested to “see more” of the victim after she sent him a picture of her face, according to the report. After she declined, he sent a one-second video of an adult man masturbating in the shower. The man’s face is visible in the beginning of the video.
In December, law enforcement subpoenaed the suspect’s subscriber information through his internet provider, Cox Communications.
The suspect was revealed to be Aaron Eliot-Gaines, a 33-year-old Gainesville resident.
After finding a photo of Eliot-Gaines through the Driver and Vehicle Information Database, police were able to match Eliot-Gaines with the man in the video.
The Gainesville Police Department carried out a search warrant Dec. 22 for Eliot-Gaines’ Snapchat account, which included 20 videos and images of Eliot-Gaines. He is masturbating in most of the videos, according to the report.
In additional Snapchat conversations with other users, Eliot-Gaines reportedly identified himself with different ages ranging from 16 to 23.
In a conversation with an Alabama minor who identified herself as 12 years old but was actually 11, Eliot-Gaines asked her if she shaved her vagina and told her she had a mature body. He told the victim he was 19 years old.
He offered to send her money in exchange for sexually explicit videos. The two then took turns sending videos of themselves masturbating.
Eliot-Gaines and the victim then began to plan to meet in person. He told the victim he lived in the same area as her, and she sent him her location.
“Nobody will ever find out,” Eliot-Gaines said in chats, and their relationship’s illegality “makes it more fun.” The victim ended contact with him soon after he revealed his true age.
In another conversation with a 14-year-old girl, he sent several masturbation videos and asked her to send sexually explicit photos of herself.
Snapchat also reported five other accounts linked to Eliot-Gaines.
In January, GPD issued another search warrant for his email address through Google. The warrant supplied police with Eliot-Gaines’ Gmail and YouTube, as well as his location history.
A search warrant for Eliot-Gaines’ house was carried out Wednesday morning, during which police made contact with him and his female roommate, according to the report.
Eliot-Gaines admitted to owning the Snapchat account and having sexual conversations with minors since he created the account in 2023.
He told police three of the five associated Snapchat accounts were his, but he denied owning the other two. He said he only used the other accounts to sexually communicate with adults, not minors.
Eliot-Gaines told police he knew his actions were wrong and apologized, stating he did so because “he was in a bad place with his girlfriend, and that he was bored and lonely,” according to the report.
Eliot-Gaines is currently in custody facing five charges related to possessing and soliciting child pornography, as well as 14 charges for sending explicit photos of himself to a minor.
Contact Vanessa Norris at vnorris@alligator.org. Follow her on X @vanessajnorris.
