A Coral Springs man with an extensive child porn collection was caught videotaping kids as they used public showers on Deerfield Beach the day before Thanksgiving, the Broward Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.
John Field, 66, told a detective his lifelong attraction to children was "more than a fetish" after a Deerfield Beach lifeguard spotted him videotaping children in a suspicious manner, said BSO spokesperson Keyla ConcepciĆ³n.
The lifeguard alerted a BSO deputy, to whom Field voluntarily handed over his video camera when confronted, according to police. ConcepciĆ³n said video files from November 23 showed mostly undressed little girls under five years old, rinsing off in the showers after enjoying the beach.
Field told investigators he had been collecting child porn for about 13 years at his home, police said, including a year's worth of video and images from the showers at Deerfield Beach.
BSO Detective Jennifer Montgomery, a member of the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, met Field at his home in Coral Springs, where police say a preliminary forensic analysis of just one of several media storage devices he turned over contained over 50,000 explicit images of girls under 12 and about a dozen videos showing boys engaged in sexual acts.
Field, who has not admitted to any physical contact with children according to police, faces 100 counts of child pornography. ConcepciĆ³n said more charges are possible as the investigation continues.