Detectives from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office assigned to the Crimes Against Children (CAC) Unit have arrested a Belleair man for multiple counts of possession of child pornography.
Detectives began their investigation after receiving information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that child pornography was being uploaded on the internet. Through various investigative techniques, detectives were able to identify the suspect as 69 year-old Michael Hugill.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for Hugill’s internet account and several images of child pornography were located. A search warrant was also obtained on Hugill’s residence located at 212 Coe Road in Belleair. Several electronic devices were collected from Hugill’s residence and several additional child pornography images were located on at least one device. When Hugill was interviewed by detectives, he admitted to owning the internet account and saving the images to his computer, according to detectives.
On October 20, 2022, detectives arrested Hugill and charged him with ten counts of Possession of Child Pornography.
Hugill was transported to the Pinellas County Jail.
The investigation continues.