Florida attorney, 53, is caught with thousands of child pornography images on his computer

A South Florida lawyer who made a national name representing victims of child sexual abuse was caught with thousands of images of child pornography hidden on his home computer.

Michael T. Dolce, 53, gained national recognition for his work to end the statute of limitations on child sexual assault cases in the Sunshine State and was ultimately named one of America’s 500 Leading Lawyers for his work Advocating for victims of child sexual abuse.

He has spoken publicly about the abuse he faced as a 7-year-old boy at the hands of one of his neighbors and has recounted how he hopes to ‘save the kids the ride I’ve had to take’, even creating the Protect Our Children First Committee. .

But Dolce’s reputation fell apart after he was arrested on March 15, when FBI agents found nearly 2,000 images and five videos of child pornography stored on his laptop.

He now remains behind bars, awaiting his scheduled arraignment in mid-April. If he is convicted on child pornography possession charges, Dolce could face up to 20 years in prison.

Federal authorities executed three search warrants against Dolce’s vehicle and apartment in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 15.

“The entry into the residence occurred as a result of a forcible door rape when Dolce failed to respond to law enforcement orders to go to the door,” a federal complaint states.

“Tactical surveillance and entry teams revealed that Dolce was alone in the residence, awake in a bed at the time FBI personnel first knocked and announced on his door,” it continued.

When FBI agents finally broke through, the complaint says, they found a Samsung laptop “located directly next to Dolce on the bed” that was “actively downloading child pornography.”

Authorities also found multiple open windows on the laptop that contained or led to illicit material.

‘A subfolder titled “darling” featured an addition[al] subfolder titled “Sweet-Pedo Stars”, which featured child pornography and erotic images of a single pre-pubescent minor victim with the added “PEDO STARs” watermark.

Later, a digital forensics team reviewed the Samsung laptop and “as of 3/24/23, FBI personnel had identified 1,997 images and five videos of child pornography based on known hash values ​​for previously identified child pornography.” .

Federal authorities say Dolce was using BitTorrent to anonymously download the images and videos of the girl victims who are estimated to be between the ages of 5-8, 6-10 and 9-11.

Dolce admitted after prosecutors requested a remand in custody at a hearing on Thursday, Law and Crime reports, but reserved the right to revert to the issue at a later time.

It’s unclear how federal authorities were able to track down Dolce.

Dolce received his law degree in 1994 from Stetson University School of Law in Gulfport, Florida, according to his LinkedIn profile, which calls him “a highly regarded trial attorney and political activist.”

But she first made a name for herself 10 years later, when she came forward as a survivor of child sexual abuse and testified before the Florida Senate Committee on Criminal Justice in an effort to strike down all statutes of limitation for the civil and criminal prosecution of child sexual assault.

He claimed he was molested by a neighbor at the age of 7, saying that when he got up the courage to speak out about it, he couldn’t file a claim because the statute of limitations had passed.

“The law was protecting predators,” Dolce recounted in a video after the state legislature voted to repeal the statute of limitations. “They were encouraged by law to silence their victims, to threaten them.”

In a 2009 interview, Dolce said she was working to ensure that other victims of child and adult sexual abuse could bring their cases against their abusers, noting, “Most of the time, perpetrators have more than one victim, and dozens and dozens of victims.” ‘

He also said in that video that he had worked within the Florida State Legislature for five years but was facing challenges from the Catholic Church to remove the statute of limitations, though he noted that he had been teaching Sunday school at a local church for 14 years.

After her win, Dolce formed her own law firm Dolce and Paruas in 2012 and worked there until 2015, when she landed a position with Cohen Milstead, a large law firm with half a dozen offices across the country.

There, he led the firms’ Sexual Abuse, Sex Trafficking and Domestic Abuse Team.

A now-deleted profile on Cohen Milstead’s website states that he “brings to his work the insight and commitment of a survivor, having himself been sexually abused as a child at the hands of a sadistic predator.”

It also notes that he was named to Lawdragon’s list of America’s 500 Leading Lawyers, was named to The Best Lawyers in America, and received the Daily Business Review’s 2019 Innovative Practice Areas Award.

He received awards for his work from the National Center for Victims of Crime, the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, and the Florida Association for Justice; and ‘CNN has relied on him as an expert for an investigative report on sex crime investigations.’

And in her spare time, Dolce was a member of the Litigation Counsel of America, served on the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence Board of Directors from 2011 to 2018, and served on the Sexual Violence Focus Group at the Florida Office of State Courts. . Administrator in 2015.

He even founded his own political committee, titled Protect Our Kids First Inc.

When asked what was the most challenging part of her job in 2017, Dolce said it was “dealing with people who don’t want to see the truth of what child abuse survivors really go through.”

“It’s an ugly subject that nobody wants to even think about,” he said in an interview with Daily business review At the time.

“People worry about their own children, but they don’t want to see the reality of what happens to a child, or even to adults.

These wounds cannot be x-rayed. You can’t scan them in an MRI. But you have to make people understand the depth of these wounds.’

He added that his “number one hope always remains that I will have saved the kids the walk I had to take.”

“I think we will get there by continuing to make institutions safer and by continuing to hold accountable abusers who would otherwise repeat their crimes.”

During his time at Cohen Milstead, Dolce was known to secure large settlements for his clients, including a $4.6 million settlement in 2019 on behalf of an adult plaintiff who alleged his father sexually abused him during his childhood.

She was working on a case involving a client who alleged that she was forced to have a threesome while drunk and tripping over magic mushrooms at the time of her arrest, the miami new times reports.

Two weeks ago, opposing counsel noticed that Dolce suddenly disappeared from the case, but they didn’t learn why until Dolce’s arrest came to light on March 29.

In a statement, Cohen Milstead executives said “the company is stunned and saddened by these terrible allegations,” noting that Dolce was fired.

“We are focused on serving the needs of our customers and staff, and continue to fully cooperate with the investigation.”

Meanwhile, congregational leaders at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Palm Beach allegedly told Dolce, who served on the church’s board of directors, not to attend or participate in church events until further notice, according to him Palm Beach Post.