Coconut Creek school worker enticed children to send ‘explicit’ files: reports
A school employee at a Broward County Montessori school lured children and paid them with video-game currency so they would send naked pictures and videos of themselves, reports say.
Evan Sands, a 26-year-old Tamarac man, is facing federal charges of possession of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and enticement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual behavior. As of Saturday, he is in the Broward County Main Jail. His attorney did not immediately respond for comments.
In December, Discord, a messaging app, discovered one of its users was trafficking in child pornography, Sands’ criminal complaint read. The service alerted the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which started an investigation.
It tracked the account of “astraldrag0n” to Sands. After serving a search warrant for his Discord account in January and getting access in March, a Department of Homeland Security investigator said they found he had conversations with children under the age of 18, some under 12.
He would solicit the children to send “sexually explicit” images and videos of themselves, with him sending back videos showing him pleasuring himself, the complaint read. Authorities also found he sent these videos to other Discord users.
Sands was arrested on Thursday, and during a search of his phone, over 20 images and videos depicting child sexual abuse material involving boys and girls were found — ranging in age from infants to pre-teens.
During an interview, detectives said he admitted to enticing numerous minors with Robux, an in-game currency for Roblox, a popular children’s game. He estimated that these sexual interactions with minors began in 2021, and the youngest “he solicited was 12 years old.”
WPLG-Local 10 News reported Sands worked at the Randazzo School, a Coconut Creek private school at 2300 NW 39th Ave. School administrators said he would not be returning to the school.
“We are fully cooperating with law enforcement as their investigation continues,” the statement read. “The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority. Based on the information the U.S. Marshals provided, there is no evidence that any of our students were involved or affected.”
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