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Robert Schank
A Bed Bath and Beyond store manager in Kissimmee was busted in a Polk County Sheriff’s Office child pornography sting.
On Dec. 21, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office concluded a month-long special operation to identify members of the community who possessed and shared child pornography.
The operation, called Operation Guardians of the Innocence VI, was conducted by undercover detectives from Polk Sheriff’s Office Computer Crimes Unit, and led to the arrests of 13 people.
The youngest person arrested was 20, while the oldest was 47. The 13 men arrested face a total of 2,353 charges (2,347 felonies, 6 misdemeanors).
Robert Thomas Schank, 47, from Davenport, was charged with 36 felony counts of enhanced possession of child pornography. Schank told detectives he is the manager of a Bed Bath and Beyond store in Kissimmee.
Following up on a tip, detectives searched Schank’s electronic devices and located videos of children as young as 2-years old being sexually battered, according to a Polk Sheriff’s Office press release. Schank told detectives he had shared these videos in chat groups on the KIK application.
At the time of arrest, detectives seized all known electronic communications devices belonging to the suspects, with forensic searches of those devices to follow. Those searches could turn up additional images and/or videos depicting child pornography, and the suspects would be additionally charged as needed. Attempts are also made to identify the children in various images and videos.
“We are committed to protecting our children from those who possess and distribute child pornography. The men arrested in this operation create a market for these kinds of horrific images that are dependent upon the continued sexual abuse and rape of babies and children worldwide,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. “Each time these images and videos are uploaded and shared these children are victimized again and again. I appreciate the hard work our detectives did that was necessary to file these charges."
