LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A Disney World employee accused of molesting children, including an infant, and producing child pornography was arrested Tuesday at his home, deputies said.
A search warrant was served at 57-year-old Richard Morgan’s home on Lake Jackson Drive in Mascotte for possession of child porn.
When investigators did a forensic search of Morgan’s computer, they found dozens of child porn videos and pictures, according to an arrest affidavit.
Investigators said some of the porn was made in Morgan’s home, and they believe that Morgan met several parents online who were willing to bring their children to the home to be molested, recorded and/or photographed.
“As they were going through this evidence, some of the images they found actually contained Morgan himself in the picture, molesting the young girls,” said Lt. John Harrell of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Morgan is facing 407 counts of production of child pornography, 90 counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and three counts of sexual battery.
The arrest affidavit named Morgan’s job as a stage tech at Disney. A spokesperson said Morgan has been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the charges.
Authorities said the investigation began in September when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip from Lake County deputies about a Yahoo email address that was uploading inappropriate images of children.
The search warrant was obtained Feb. 10.
Deputies said they found images and videos on Morgan’s computer, and he admitted to molesting an infant girl in one of the videos, which was labeled in a folder as “Baby.”
Deputies said Morgan handed over his laptop, phone and hard drive, where they found more than 400 images of child porn they believe he created inside this home. They said he's seen touching at least three of the girls.
"They became certain pretty quickly that it was going to be a pretty big case with a lot of charges,” Harrell said.
The folder contained numerous images of a baby being sexually abused, the affidavit said. Based on the background of the video, deputies figured out the alleged abuse happened in Morgan’s home.
Detectives think the victims in the pictures were between 10 months and 6 years old when they were photographed.
They aren't sure how far back the images go, but their best guess is he may have been doing this for up to 9 years.
Deputies said Morgan also confessed to molesting a young girl when her mom flew her to Lake County from California.
Deputies said Morgan and the victim’s mother met online, and the mother is facing charges.
He told detectives that he molested two other children as well, deputies said, but investigators have not been able to identify those victims.
Deputies fear that there may be more victims, and ask parents whose children were around the suspect to come forward.