An FBI task force arrested a Rockland County man on charges of downloading and distributing child pornography, including videos of little girls and a toddler being sexually assaulted, officials said as they unsealed the criminal complaint Monday.
Timothy Mirabal, who was cuffed Oct. 28, allegedly used a Russian-hosted phone app that allowed him to link to a folder that contained the illicit images, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in New York's Southern District.
The particular application Mirabal, 28, allegedly used is known by law enforcement as a conduit or child sexual abuse material, the complaint says. Law enforcement officers in Minneapolis accessed a group chat connected to the app and early September and discovered the folder with images of child pornography, it says.
An email address linked to the owner of that folder was created using a unique IP address that investigators allegedly traced to Mirabal's father and to a phone number to which he was also allegedly connected, the criminal complaint says. The service address for that IP address was linked to his Rockland County address.
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Investigators linked the email address they say was tied to ownership of that child pornography folder to a birth date that "corresponds precisely" to the digits used in the email address, officials say. That birth date is Timothy Mirabal's.
A search warrant was authorized on Oct. 26, two days before Mirabal's arrest, and it was executed two days later, the day he was arrested. Mirabal's father opened the door when agents arrived and allowed them inside, then his son, Timothy, came out of a bedroom and joined his dad and agents in the living room, court papers state.
When an agent explained the nature of the search warrant to the defendant, the two went to a basement to talk in private -- at which point Timothy Mirabal asked that law enforcement not tell his parents what the search was about, investigators said.
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He allegedly acknowledged he had received and possessed child pornography, and that related images would likely be found on his old cellphone, which he said was located upstairs in a drawer, the complaint says. He also allegedly admitted that he used a messaging application installed on the phone to "trade" child pornography.
Law enforcement reviewing communications authorized by the search warrant allegedly found multiple instances where two users appeared to discuss ages of children related to the illicit images -- and three video files involving little girls, the criminal complaint alleges. Officers were able to identify all of the minors involved.
Dozens of video files obtained through messaging applications were found downloaded on Mirabal's cellphone, and some contained apparent child pornography, the criminal complaint alleges. One involved a girl younger than 2.
The FBI is continuing to investigate the case. It asks anyone who may have information to call the agency's New York office at 212-384-1000 or submit a tip online here.
Information on a possible attorney for Timothy Mirabal wasn't immediately available.
