St. Petersburg gym owner accused of sending porn to teenage girl

Posted: Sep 9, 2020 / 05:54 PM EDT

Updated: Sep 9, 2020 / 07:50 PM EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – A St. Petersburg gym owner is behind bars after police say he sent multiple pornographic images to a detective posing as a 14-year old girl.

41-year old Christopher Brown is facing 10 counts of transmission of material harmful to minors and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.

Yolanda Fernandez with the St. Petersburg Police Department explains, one of their undercover detectives started having a conversation with Brown.

“We had an undercover officer in a chat situation with Christopher Brown,” said Fernandez. “In which he thought the undercover officer was a 14-year old girl. ” During the exchange, investigators say Brown sent graphic images of adults to the child. Police explain possession of the pornography is not a crime, but sending it to a child is.

Brown is one of the co-owners of Vertical Ventures, a rock climbing and fitness gym in St. Petersburg. There is also a location in Tampa.

A representative for two of the other owners told 8 On Your Side they were blindsided by these allegations and they are assuring members and the public that nothing illegal happened at the gyms.

They issued the following statement: “We were shocked to learn unexpected news today. One of our Vertical Ventures partners has been involved in personal matters that have led (to his arrest). Since we do not accept or tolerate that kind of inappropriate behavior, we would like to announce publicly that we have parted ways with Chris Brown, who has been a part of our team since 2006. We want to assure all customers and employees that we are open for business as usual and do not tolerate unacceptable behavior. None of his actions took place in the workplace or involved any employees or customers.”

But police say this is still an active and ongoing investigation, and there is always the possibility that someone could come forward.

“It’s possible that with all of this coming out and his arrest that other people may come forward and say that they too were victims,” said Fernandez. “So the investigation is still open and of course if anybody has any concerns that they might have been victimized to please contact police.”