Former Polk State College Instructor Turned Nurse Faces Child Pornography Charges: Cops

WINTER HAVEN, FL — An investigation about a former Polk State College (PSC) employee allegedly changing administrator' passwords following his termination in April, led the Polk County Sheriff's Office to finding 75 images of child pornography on the suspect's personal computer.

Brandon James Diaz, 38, of Winter Haven worked as an EMS instructor at the college for an undisclosed amount of time until a failed drug test led to his termination, investigators said. In June, a PCS program coordinator and instructor of the EMS course program had difficulty logging onto their labs and scheduling accounts. As they reset their passwords, they discovered their password recovery hints had been changed to "Sell Out" or "Ha Ha Ha Loser", according to police.

Detectives identififed Diaz as the suspect. He had also been working at Lakeland Regional Health during his time at PSC, and had simultaneously been fired for the same reason, deputies said.

Diaz told officers he had accessed the PSC database from his personal computer. He confessed to altering the passwords of the program coordinator and instructor because he blamed them for his termination. According to authorities, he also altered the administrative rights of other accounts. A total of 10 accounts had been tampered with.

Police said they did not find any personal identity information stolen during the investigation.

A search warrant had been served Dec. 16 at the Winter Haven home of Diaz. Deputies took his computer and found 75 images of child pornography on it.

“I am proud of the good work my detectives did on this case," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "If tampering with information in a state college database wasn't bad enough, he had a large amount of child pornography on his computer. It's ironic that our investigation ended up turning into a child pornography case.”

Brandon James Diaz faces the following charges, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office

• Access to computer without authorization
• Use of a two-way device to commit a felony
• Enhanced possession of child pornography

He told detectives he had currently been employed as an Emergency Department Assistant Nursing Manager with Advent Health Heart of Florida in Davenport.