DeLand Man Accused of Having Over 42,000 Child Abuse Images

A DeLand resident was arrested on Friday for allegedly possessing over 42,000 child sexual abuse images, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office announced. 40-year-old Trent Prather is currently being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail without bond. The VSO did not specify how they were initially alerted to Prather’s alleged activities, but stated that they executed a search warrant on his Lake Forest Drive home as part of an investigation by their Child Exploitation Unit. The SWAT team responded to serve the warrant, as did Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood. Video from the serving of the search warrant shows deputies announcing their presence before breaking down Prather’s door with a battering ram. According to Chitwood, Prather used artificial intelligence to create lifelike child sexual exploitation images. He’s also accused of owning firearms he’s not legally allowed to own. A forensic analysis of the electronic devices from Prather’s home is said to have yielded over 42,000 child abuse images. The images recovered contained mostly girls from the ages of around four to ten, the VSO says. This is apparently close to the ages of Prather’s own children. Prior to this instance, Prather was arrested in 2011 and 2018 in Utah for similar child sex abuse offenses. In 2011 he was accused of having possessed material of victims as young as two years old. He was charged then with ten counts of exploitation of a minor and subsequently sentenced to probation. In 2018, following a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Prather was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence. “This is extremely sick and disturbing on top of the previous convictions in Utah for this,” Chitwood said from the scene of the search. “So this is one of those investigations to stay tuned for and we’re gonna see how this plays out.” Prather was charged with 21 counts of child pornography possession, five counts of possession of weapons by an out-of-state felon, and one count each of lewd/lascivious molestation of a victim less than 12 years old and promoting sexual performance of a child. He has no prior bookings in the Volusia County Branch Jail on record before this latest arrest.