Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Hollywood Man Arrested After Updating Facebook Profile With Child Pornography

HOLLYWOOD — (TYDN) The authorities here arrested a 42-year-old man who updated his Facebook profile with child pornography, TheYellowDailyNews has learned.

Hollywood police said John Tileagio was being held without bond Wednesday after several of his Facebook friends alerted the authorities to his new profile picture.

Photo: Spencer E. Holtaway/TYDN
Analysts said it was the first time in social-media history that child pornography was used as a profile picture.

"We always caution users of social media to remember that their profile picture personifies who you are," Gretchen Gringerson, the well-known social-media guru, said in an exclusive interview with TheYellowDailyNews.

Tileagio, in an exclusive jailhouse interview with TheYellowDailyNews, said he meant it as a joke to use a picture of his 1-year-old son's penis as his profile picture.

"I took this beautiful picture of my wife giving him a bath," said Tileagio, a freelance photographer. "I hadn't updated my Facebook picture in a while, so I updated it with a cropped picture of my kid's penis—just for laughs. And now I'm facing 5 years and being labeled a sex offender for life."

Tileagio is expected to make his first court appearance Friday.

His attorney, Wilma Smith, said her client is not guilty of child pornography charges.

"I was just a joke," she said. "That picture is no more offensive than most of the profile pictures on Facebook."

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