Mary Esther man arrested, charged with possessing child sexual abuse material

MARY ESTHER, Fla. – A Mary Esther man has been arrested and charged with possessing child sexual abuse material, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has announced.

Brandon Landis, 36, of Mary Esther, was arrested on Wednesday by agents with the FDLE on 12 counts of possession of child sexual abuse materials, one count of use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, and one count of promoting the sexual performance of a child, all felonies, the FDLE said.

The FDLE said its agents initiated an investigation in August 2022 and reportedly discovered that, over seven months, Landis shared more than 1,100 files of child sexual material over a file-sharing network.

Agents executed a search warrant at Landis’ residence on March 1 and reported finding child sexual abuse materials on a desktop computer.

In addition, K-9 Maple is said to have detected a hidden microSD card that contained child sexual abuse materials in an envelope in a spiral notebook.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, FBI, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service assisted in the investigation.

Landis was booked into the Okaloosa County Jail. He will be prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office, First Judicial Circuit.