Volusia Sheriff’s detectives have arrested an Orange City man on 10 counts of possessing child pornography images after a tip led to the discovery of several sexually explicit photos of children on his electronic devices.
Eric Bonnette was arrested at home on a warrant for possession of sexual performance by a child. He was held on $1 million bond pending a first appearance court hearing.
Detectives were alerted following a disturbance at Bonnette’s home back in April, in which he was arrested on unrelated charges: possession of weapon/ammo by a convicted felon and violation of an injunction for domestic violence protection.
VSO Child Exploitation Unit detectives began investigating and executed search warrants on a cell phone in his possession at the Branch Jail and a residential search warrant at his home in Orange City.
Detectives located cellphones, iPads, tablets, laptops and a safe and transported them to the Sheriff’s Office for forensic examination.
Detectives found sexually explicit photos of mostly girls between ages 4-13. The local investigation indicates Bonnette was downloading the photos from the Internet.
Due to the nature of the materials found, the Sheriff’s Office is notifying the public of this case and asking anyone who may have more information to contact the VSO Child Exploitation Unit at (386) 323-3574.
