FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) introduced FOX 4 to a very special agent who is known for the way he can sniff out and track crime.
Cache, a 20-month-old, rambunctious Labrador retriever has a nose that's been a major help for FDLE.
“What we do with him is typically we will do a search on a house; we’ll hand search it with the investigators first and that’s the whole reason for him to either find the stuff we either can’t find, or we missed altogether," said Special Agent Justin Gilmer.
Special Agent Gilmer is Cache's handler. He explained that Cache is specifically trained in the detection of electronic storage devices.
"Social media has been a great thing for a lot of people but it does give criminals and predators the ability to come directly into your house," Special Agent Gilmer said. "Whether it’s on a tablet, or a computer, or even video games.”
"Technology, whether it’s a cellphone or a thumb drive, we see them here at FLDE in almost every investigation," said Special Agent in Charge Eli Lawson.
And Cache has found his fair share during the multiple cases he's worked on.
Special Agent in Charge Lawson told Fox 4's Briana Brownlee—Cache has worked cases such as narcotics and human trafficking, but he's primarily assigned to child exploitation.
"He’s been able to go into those cases and find the smallest of storage items that may contain images or videos of child pornography that people are sharing or even producing," Special Agent Lawson said.
The United States Sentencing Commissionranks the Middle Florida District, which includes Lee, Charlotte, Collier, and DeSoto counties the third highest district for child pornography offenders in the nation.
The FLDE added that The Fort Myers Regional Operations Center (FMROC) has opened 36 child pornography investigations from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023. Most of these were initiated by FDLE.
Additionally, in that same time period, FMROC received and investigated approximately 40 complaints and referrals from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and assist requests by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force.
“Behind every image and video, there is a live victim," Special Agent Lawson said.
In the fight against these types of crimes, the agency is asking parents to be vigilant.
“Parents need to be able to talk to their kids, keep an open eye and dialogue and find out exactly what it is that they are doing online," said Special Agent Gilmer.
Cache was donated to the department by a nonprofit organization called Operation Underground, which
is an organization that fights against human trafficking.
