Collier man arrested for child pornography

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – A grand jury is set to convene to decide if a Golden Gate man will face federal charges for distributing child pornography.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agents raided the home of 59-year-old Michael Read on Saturday.

“Child pornography, it’s a disgusting thing. Really disgusting,” said Read’s neighbor, Phil Sbraccia.

Right now, Read is in the Collier County Jail facing child pornography charges.

His arrest report shows agents from the Department of Homeland Security, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office raided his apartment in Canterbury Village in Golden Gate.

The Dept. of Homeland Security said Read was distributing child pornography. Agents say inside his apartment, they found computer equipment with at least 100 videos of child pornography. Some of the children looked as young as 5 years old.

“When you hear that your next door neighbor is involved in something like that,  yeah, I was kind of surprised,” said Sbraccia.

Sbraccia tells WINK News, Read has lived in the apartment for at least six years, but says he’s only seen him a dozen times.

“He was a very low key guy,” said Sbraccia. “Never hardly said anything.  Just hello. Goodbye.”

Read’s arrest report shows he was a computer programmer who lived alone. Now, it’s possible he’ll face federal charges.

“He’s gonna go away for a while from what I hear,” said Sbraccia.