Hundreds Of Child Porn, Child Sex Charges Filed Against Brandon Man

BRANDON, FL — Following an investigation that began nearly a year ago, a Brandon man is facing hundreds of charges for sex crimes, including possession of child and animal porn and having sex with minors.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, detectives first became aware of Austin Drue Hoffman, 28, during an undercover operation intended to identify adults attempting to exploit children online.

In May, an undercover detective posing as a child made virtual contact with Hoffman, who lied about his age, saying he was 19. For several days, Hoffman asked for nude images of the undercover detective posing as a child and attempted to make arrangements to have sex with the "juvenile," according to the sheriff's office.

This led to Hoffman's first arrest on May 19 on charges of use of a computer or other device to solicit illegal acts while misrepresenting his age and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.

"This is why we do this kind of operation; we want to find the predators before they find our children," said Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister. "Little did we know, this would be the beginning of a much darker, troubling discovery into the suspect's disgusting, secret life.

During the arrest, deputies seized a cell phone belonging to Hoffman, and a search warrant was issued to investigate the phone's contents. Over the ensuing months, forensic technicians and detectives extracted the content on the electronic device and eventually discovered more than 100 videos depicting sexual child abuse, including infants, computer-generated images of child sexual abuse and videos of bestiality, said the sheriff's office. Detectives said they also discovered that Hoffman had shared more than 100 videos of sexual abuse material with other people.

On Dec. 1, deputies and detectives with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Human Trafficking Section and Internet Predator Unit obtained an arrest warrant and took Hoffman into custody at his home in the 1400 block of Village Court in Brandon.

He was charged with 100 counts of out-of-state transmission of child pornography by electronic device, 100 counts of child pornography of 10 or more images, four counts of possession of realistic computer-generated videos of child pornography and two counts of filming, distributing or possessing images or videos of sexual activity with an animal.

While carrying out a search warrant on Hoffman's home, investigators said they also found other electronic devices with child abuse material.

After Hoffman's second arrest and while he was still in custody, detectives said they learned that Hoffman was engaging in sexual activities with at least three youth and were able to obtain more information about Hoffman's victimization of the juveniles.

As a result, he faces additional charges of possession of child pornography, promotion of a sexual performance by a child, traveling to meet a minor after using a computer or other device to solicit illegal acts, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, unlawful sexual activity with a minor, transmission of harmful material to a minor and use of computer services or devices to solicit illegal acts

"Our hearts go out to the victims of the suspect who were used in his disturbing criminal acts," said Chronister. "These kinds of investigations are not easy for our detectives, who are subjected to the worst things a person can see, and then must go home and live a normal life in our communities. They are the heroes who sacrifice in order to find and rescue the victims of these predators, and work to ensure they have a chance at justice within our legal system."

Hoffman is being held in jail on $3,080,500 bail.

Anyone with information about this case or other instances of child exploitation are urged to come forward and contact the sheriff's office at 813-247-8200.