A Sanford man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to charges of sexual exploitation of children and distribution of child pornography.
According to court records, between March 2020 and June 2022, Joseph Zoll exchanged thousands of messages with a woman in the Philippines who recorded and livestreamed herself sexually abusing a very young child. Zoll reportedly instructed her on how to carry out the abuse and recorded the calls, which he then passed on to others abroad.
He reportedly engaged in similar abuse with other traffickers over the same video platform for years.
The investigation into Zoll, 63, was carried out by Homeland Security Investigations, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Zoll will face an additional 10 years of supervised release after his 25 years in prison.
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