Palm Coast Resident Convicted, Sentenced for Child Porn

25-year-old Palm Coast resident Andrew Da Silva has pleaded guilty to 12 counts of possession of a sexual performance by a child. His plea came on March 4, about ten months after he was arrested by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Following his sentence, Da Silva received his sentence from Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols. He’ll serve five years in prison, followed by ten years of sex offender probation. Upon his release, Da Silva will be required to register as a sex offender. An initial report on Da Silva’s arrest by the FCSO last year said he was accused of using the messenger app Kik to communicate inappropriately with minors. Detectives gathered evidence that he’d sent and been sent explicit material from minors dozens of times. An investigation commenced by the FCSO as part of a partnership called the Northeast Florida Inter-Agency Child Exploitation and Persons Trafficking Task Force. Law enforcement was first notified of Da Silva by a tip that was submitted to the FCSO’s Cyber Crimes Division by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Da Silva had no prior arrests on record before being booked into the Flagler County jail. He was arrested in May 2025, and posted his $250,000 sometime shortly thereafter. Now, Da Silva is preparing to serve half a decade for his crimes. The sentencing of Andrew Da Silva wasn’t the only such occurrence on Tuesday last week. Jacksonville resident Amias Mabini, 26, was also sentenced to five years for sex crimes against minors the same day. He too was accused of having used Kik. “Our detectives and partners at the State Attorney, Florida’s 7th Circuit secured guilty pleas and convictions for two perverts on the same day,” said Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly. “They continue to do excellent work making sure that these perverts see prison time and mandated sex offender treatments, and we will continue to go after anyone who preys on children.”