Joseph Dougherty. {BSO}
A collaborative effort by the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Sunrise Police Department led to the arrest of a man on 11 counts of possessing child pornography.
According to investigation records, the subject of the investigation and subsequent arrest, Joseph Dougherty, 34, of Sunrise, first came under suspicion in October 2023 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children flagged suspicious online activity reported by a cloud storage service provider. The tip included user account details and associated login activity, eventually leading back to Dougherty.
On November 30, 2023, detectives from the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office subpoenaed internet service provider records linked to the flagged activity. The records pointed to a residential property undergoing renovations.
Investigation records show detectives conducted surveillance and interviewed individuals with access to the internet connection at the location. It was discovered that multiple workers, including Dougherty, had been provided the Wi-Fi password during the renovation period.
Further investigative efforts noted in the Sunrise PD arrest report revealed an email address associated with Dougherty that led to a residence in Sunrise. The same individual had accessed the account from multiple IP addresses between September and October 2023, and records recovered from an internet service provider confirmed the Dougherty and his residential address.
On February 2, 2024, detectives obtained a search warrant for Dougherty’s cloud storage account, allowing investigators to retrieve key evidence in the case. Investigators also were able to link Dougerty to the crimes via information related to his Pornhub and OnlyFans accounts.
Records show upon being confronted with the evidence in the case, Dougherty confirmed the explicit photos and images were his and confessed to having sexual fantasies of teen girls and younger. He also admitted to downloading “filthy” things on his computer, including bestiality, which he acknowledged masturbating to.
Dougherty was arrested and transferred to the Broward County Main Jail.
Got News in South Florida? Send it Here. Don’t Miss reading NW Broward County’s #1 News Sites: Parkland Talk, Coconut Creek Talk, Coral Springs Talk, Margate Talk, and Tamarac Talk.
