HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A tip to Hollywood police that one of the city’s residents was uploading child sexual abuse material online would eventually lead to a deeper investigation — and federal criminal charges.
That’s according to court documents obtained by Local 10 News on Thursday.
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Rovens Pascal, 21, made a series of transactions with an undercover operative to exchange child sexual abuse videos in exchange for cash, the FBI alleges.
He agreed, authorities allege, to sell law enforcement videos showing toddlers being raped in exchange for $30.
U.S. Marshals booked Pascal into the Broward Main Jail following a search of his residence Tuesday; he appeared in Fort Lauderdale federal court the next day.
According to a federal criminal complaint, the investigation began after Hollywood police received tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in September 2022 and 2023 that Pascal had uploaded child sexual abuse material to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
The company, authorities said, shut down Pascal’s first account in September 2022 after flagging the upload.
One year later, the company flagged a new account and shut it down too, court documents state.
An FBI agent states in the federal criminal complaint that an “online undercover employee” began communicating with Pascal on messaging app Telegram on Nov. 1.
They arranged for Pascal to sell as much as 24GB worth of child sexual abuse material to the operative in exchange for $40 and provided a seven-minute sample video, authorities allege; agents said he told the operative that he had “over 200GB” worth of files that he would sell in exchange for more money.
“Most of my youngest are 6-8,” authorities say he told the operative in a chat. Eventually, Pascal agreed to sell the files for $30, which law enforcement sent to his Cash App account, court documents state.
On Nov. 8, authorities said they used a different Telegram account to purchase more files from Pascal.
Authorities said Pascal agreed to sell the operative, who asked him for “young...like under 10,” more than 100GB worth of child sexual abuse material for $30; he provided multiple samples.
The court documents outline three additional transactions with undercover law enforcement operatives.
Authorities say in one deal, after a second operative asked him if he had videos depicting “toddlers” — specifying 2 as the victims’ desired age — Pascal provided a 56-second sample video of a girl being raped.
Afterward, Pascal agreed to sell law enforcement 20GB of child sexual abuse material for $30, court documents state.
Authorities would go to Pascal’s home on North 72nd Terrace, near Bicentennial Park, on Tuesday after getting a search warrant, the court documents allege.
According to court documents, they found that Pascal was back on X and had a chat conversation with another user containing a screenshot of “several” child sexual abuse videos. Authorities said they found more child sexual abuse material stored in two cellphones.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Panayotta Augustin‐Birch ordered Pascal to remain held on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography until a scheduled bond hearing Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale federal court.
He remained in the Broward Main Jail as of Thursday.