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Office of Attorney General of Florida

05/05/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/05/2026 15:17

Attorney General James Uthmeier Announces Eighty Felony Charges in Child Sexual Abuse Material Case

Release Date
May 5, 2026
Contact
Communications
Phone
(850) 245-0150

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that Adam Wahlgren, 52, of St. Cloud, has been arrested in Lonoke, Arkansas, on 80 counts of Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM).

"This predator thought that he could escape the consequences of his depraved behavior by running to another state. He was wrong," said Attorney General James Uthmeier. "In Florida, we will find you and bring you back to face our prosecutors in court."

The investigation into Wahlgren was launched when the St. Cloud Police Department (SCPD) received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Wahlgren was possessing, viewing, and transmitting CSAM via Synchronoss, Verizon's data storage service.

The cyber tip was previously assigned to the Sanford Police Department and the Orlando Police Department, who tracked down the IP address associated with the tip and determined that the jurisdiction belonged to the St. Cloud Police Department.

SCPD executed a search warrant at Wahlgren's St. Cloud residence. Multiple electronic devices were seized for forensic extraction, including one tablet, two laptop computers, one desktop computer, nine USB drives, two external drives, two SD cards, and 28 hard drives.

Preliminary extractions of the devices led to the discovery of extremely graphic images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including files in which young children were physically bound. Over 100,000 files were located on a single device.

During the active investigation, investigators discovered that Wahlgren had fled the state. They were able to locate him in Lonoke, Arkansas. The Lonoke County Sheriff's Office arrested Wahlgren on May 1, 2026. He is expected to be extradited to Florida.

If convicted as charged, Wahlgren faces up to 1,200 years in the Florida Department of Corrections. The investigation is ongoing, and more charges may be filed as needed.

This case will be prosecuted by Senior Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Lauryn Day in the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida.

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Office of Attorney General of Florida published this content on May 05, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on May 05, 2026 at 21:18 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]