According to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, Johnathan, Jhovanni, Hernandez, 23, was arrested on Dec. 29, on two counts of possession of child pornography, two counts of transmitting child pornography and one count of using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony. Initially, after a months-long investigation, his arrest came when officials received a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
The sheriff's office now says Hernandez is facing an additional 1,182 counts of possession of child pornography. Further, under a new law that went into effect in October, he has also been charged with four counts of possession of Beastiality images.
The sheriff's office wrote on Facebook
"At that time, we told you the investigation was just getting started and there would likely be more charges. What we should have said was there would likely be A LOT more charges, like more than anyone in our county, ever,"
-Highlands County Sheriff’s Office
On Tuesday, Hernandez, who had been out on bond, was arrested for the second time after investigators went through his electronic devices seized during his arrest last month. This second arrest, with subsequent charges, was based on detectives reviewing just one of his 15 confiscated devices. In an update, the Sheriffs’ Office wrote-
"There is no telling how many charges he could face if detectives went through all the devices. Detectives say Hernandez's collection of child porn is the largest they have ever seen,"
-Highlands County Sheriff’s Office
With enough charges to keep him in prison for life potentially, Hernandez is being held on a $2.4 million bond. Thanks to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children referring this individual to the Sheriffs office for scrutiny, Hernandez is behind bars where he can no longer make money at the expense of these children.
From the sheer number of child porn recovered from this one device, it can be concluded that this has been an ongoing exploitation by Hernandez, for quite some time. While his actions are heinous, that this person is no longer free to collect, display, share or sell these materials is a point of safety and is a positive development for his collective victims.
“If a child grows up in an environment infested with predators, he or she would have a hard time building healthy relationships in society, their whole life.”
-Abhijit Naskar