WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – An attorney, who represented victims of sexual abuse, was caught downloading child pornography, federal authorities said. Michael T. Dolce, 53, was identified as the criminal defendant. He had previously pushed to end statutes of limitations for child sexual battery cases, according to WPBF.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a press statement last Wednesday, March 29, “A 53-year-old West Palm Beach licensed attorney has been arrested with possession of child pornography. Michael T. Dolce will appear in a West Palm Beach federal court tomorrow for his initial appearance.”
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI, Miami Field Office, announced the charges against Dolce.
“According to the filed criminal complaint affidavit, on March 15, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Dolce’s West Palm Beach apartment. They discovered Dolce actively downloading child pornography using peer-2-peer software. Nearly 2000 images and videos of child pornography were recovered from his devices,” the press release said.
According to court documents cited by Law&Crime, “One sub-folder, titled ‘sweetie,’ featured an addition[al] sub-folder titled ‘Sweet-Pedo Stars,’ which featured child erotica and child pornography images of a single prepubescent minor female victim with the added watermark ‘PEDO STARs.’”
“FBI digital forensic examiners and filter teams conducted a review of the SAMSUNG,” investigators wrote. “As of 3/24/23, FBI personnel had identified one-thousand nine-hundred ninety-seven images and five videos of child pornography based upon known hash values for previously identified child pornography.”
The arrest affidavit does not say what led agents to Dolce. The child porn images featured mostly girls, many younger than 12-years-old, with some as young as five, WPBF reported.
Dolce was employed by the law firm Cohen Milstead. He ran their “Sexual Abuse, Sex Trafficking, and Domestic Abuse team.” He has since been fired, according to Law&Crime.
“The firm is stunned and saddened by these appalling allegations,” they told WPBF. “Michael Dolce was terminated and is no longer affiliated with the firm. We are focused on attending to the needs of our clients and staff, and continuing to cooperate fully with the investigation.”
