BARTOW -- Ten men were arrested Thursday in an undercover child pornography investigation that Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd called the largest roundup of its kind for the Sheriff's Office.

Detectives said they found more than 200 videos and photographs of child pornography on the home computers of 11 men, one of whom committed suicide last month after a search warrant was served at his Davenport home.The videos and pictures seized from the computers show men engaging in sex acts with children ranging in age from 1 to 10 years old.

The men arrested Thursday are accused of possessing the pornography, not creating the material.

"This investigation shows the most vile, the most outrageous, the most incredibly insensitive, the most violent conduct that one person can bestow upon another," said Judd, whose office is known for its aggressive Internet patrols.

The Polk County suspects range in age from 18 to 53. Their reported professions vary from pizza deliveryman to Plant City parks and recreation department employee.

Two are hotel employees, including Stanley Schneider, 41, of Lake Alfred, who detectives said is a security guard at Buena Vista Palace Hotel. He faces 51 counts of possession of child pornography.

Judd wouldn't divulge many details from the 10-week investigation, including how the men were identified. He did say the men had no connection with one another, except for two who worked at the same restaurant.

Computer-crimes detectives obtained child pornography from the men while working undercover, the department said.

Beginning Jan. 22, detectives served search warrants on the 11 residences, located throughout the county. Since their respective computers were seized, Judd said, most of the men have confessed to having child pornography. Some had already hired lawyers, he said.

Davenport resident Edward Dameron, 45, hanged himself in a wooded area near his home about two weeks after a search warrant was served at his house Jan. 23.

One of the suspects -- Theodore Weir of Winter Haven -- told detectives when they came to his home, " 'Hey, you're too late. I just erased the evidence,' " said state prosecutor Brad Copley.

But investigators said Weir, 46, had not erased it all, and he was arrested on 59 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

As Weir was being taken away to jail Thursday, he told reporters he did not have child pornography on his computer. "If they did find it, they put it there," he said.

Also arrested Thursday were Mark Swenson, 47, of Mulberry; Terrence Baker, 21, of Lakeland; Michael Merritt, 46, of Davenport; Kenneth Parker, 25, of Lakeland; Charles Totherow, 28, of Lakeland; Clifford Sutton, 53, of Lakeland; Sterling Bullard, 18, of Auburndale; and David Kent, 33, of Lakeland.

Investigators have not identified the men or children in the pornographic videos and photographs, but made it clear that if they do, those offenders also will be prosecuted.

Detectives said some of the children's faces can be seen in the videos; others are blurred or not shown.

On Thursday, authorities played a graphic and haunting 30-second sound clip in a room filled with sheriff's detectives and a few journalists.

A state prosecutor said the clip was from a video scene showing a man sodomizing a baby girl, thought to be just 1 year old.

"It takes your breath away," Judd said. "And it breaks your heart to think that these children were victimized, and to think that these so-called human beings find some energy and entertainment from that is absolutely incredible."

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