Steven Friedenthal

Boca Raton doctor accused of child pornography had 1 terabyte of explicit content: PBSO
By Sophie Pendrill
May 30th 2024

— Excerpt

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A Boca Raton doctor has been accused of 30 counts of child pornography.

Palm Beach County’s Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) reported that they had received a CyberTip report from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children regarding a Google user who had uploaded, to his Google Drive, hundreds of files that showed sexual abuse of children.

“Specifically we’re working with internet crimes against children taskforce. The ICACs. those are groups of law-enforcement professionals who are tech-savvy. they understand the reports. We send the reports from our cyber tipline directly to them for action,” said Callahan Walsh, Exec. Director, Florida Branch, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

According to the arrest affidavit, on January 4, Google identified the account holder as 63-year-old Steven Friedenthal and reported the findings to CyberTips once the content within the drive came to the search giant’s attention.

PBSO reportedly obtained a search warrant for the Google account of Mr. Friedenthal and Google responded with over one terabyte of explicit content. A single terabyte of storage would allow a person to store over 300,000 photos or approximately 500 hours of HD video, according to an estimate on the University of Oregon website.

Promoted Links
Florida Drivers With No DUI’s Getting A Pay Day On Thursday
Auto Insurance
This data, investigated by PBSO, was found to contain thousands of photos and videos of child pornography material.

“They try to determine if it’s child sexual abuse material, when and where were these images taken, who’s the child victim and who’s the perpetrator as well?” said Walsh.

See also:Boynton Beach officer in chase that killed 13-year-old should get job back, arbiter rules

Selfies of Friedenthal and emails addressed to him were also allegedly found in the Google account.

According to officials, Friedenthal has been accused of 30 counts of possessing, controlling, or intentionally viewing sexual performance by a child while in possession of 10 or more images of child pornography. Friedenthal is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail on $210,000 bond.

Nobody responded when we knocked on Friedenthal’s door. According to a neighbor, he moved in about a year ago.

Steven Friedenthal lives at Century Village, a retirement community in Boca Raton. Nobody responded when we knocked on Friedenthal’s door. According to a neighbor, he moved in about a year ago. (WPEC)
Steven Friedenthal lives at Century Village, a retirement community in Boca Raton. Nobody responded when we knocked on Friedenthal’s door. According to a neighbor, he moved in about a year ago. (WPEC)

“He was odd, put it that way. From day one, I didn’t have a good feeling about him,” said Alyce Rubin, Friedenthal’s next-door neighbor.

“Did you have any indication that he was involved with child pornography?” we asked Rubin. “Never, never, never, never,” she said.

Friedenthal’s next-door neighbor says he rarely left his apartment and lived alone.

“He was quiet. He didn’t come out, he didn’t make any noise. He didn’t even throw garbage away. I am nervous. I am scared. I don’t want him actually living next to me again,” Rubin said.

“I think it’s sick. Real sick,” said another one of Friedenthal’s neighbors who declined to give us his name.