FBI and Seattle police investigation leads to arrest in Bremerton

According to the probable cause for his arrest, 45-year-old Vincent Battaglia had likely been sharing sexually explicit images involving minors for several years. A Seattle detective began investigating the case after social media and messaging platform Kik notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a user had uploaded a file containing sexually explicit content involving children in October. It was stated that one of the IP addresses accessing the reported account was traced to Battaglia.

The FBI also contacted Bremerton police in October, and Battaglia was also identified in an undercover operation. An undercover agent was chatting with a user known as “the person.” When a message was exchanged with a person creating an emergency, the FBI searched the location of the user’s cell phone twice. A search, or “ping,” yielded the address just behind Battaglia’s home, the latter near Bremerton High School.