OCALA, Fla. — A 40-year-old representative for a major medical-device company is being held on a $100,000 bond in Marion County after he was accused of having thousands of images of child pornography.
- Joshua J. Faciane faces 50 counts of having child porn
- Investigators say they found 3,000 illegal images on his devices
- Citrus County Sheriff decries "heinous crime" on innocent kids
Joshua J. Faciane of Inverness was charged on a warrant out of his home county with 50 counts of possessing child pornography.
He was wearing blue scrubs when he was arrested on Wednesday at Ocala Regional Hospital and taken to the Marion County Jail.
Faciane works for Stryker Corp., a multibillion-dollar publicly traded, global Fortune 500 medical-technologies firm based in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
A LinkedIn page with his name says that person has been a sales associate for the company’s orthopedic devices in Ocala since April 2015.
His employer, which sells artificial hips, joints, and other medical devices, was confirmed by Community Relations Specialist Brittney Carman for the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.
The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office said detectives with its Special Victims Unit, members of the U.S. Marshals Office Fugitive Task Force, and officers with the Ocala Police Department were present during Wednesday's arrest.
The Citrus County Sheriff's Office said it developed a case against Faciane after an unspecified “major web services company” sent a tip about him to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Alexandria, Virginia-based nonprofit passed the tip to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office on July 7.
"The most heinous crime is where criminals prey on innocent children," Citrus Sheriff Mike Prendergast said in a statement. "Detectives in cases such as these have to view and analyze the images and videos of young children being exploited; it's upsetting.”
Sgt. Stephen Conley and detectives Tiffany Barry and Chris Cornell investigated and confirmed the flagged images were child porn.
Investigators with a warrant said they searched a home in South Barco Terrace that Faciane shares with his wife on July 12.
“Detectives seized numerous digital media and storage devices for further examination,” a Citrus Sheriff’s Office statement said.
Photos of a fully clothed “young female” were found. Concerned about her safety, she was interviewed at Jessie's Place, a children's advocacy center, in Lecanto.
“She did not disclose any information that made detectives believe she was a victim of any physical or sexual abuse,” the statement said. “She is now at a safe location and protected from any potential harm.”
However, an examination of the devices seized during the search of Faciane’s home uncovered 3,000 pictures and videos of child porn, authorities said.
