Daycare Owner's Son Arrested By Feds In Child Porn Probe Appeared In Court

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) - The son of a Southwest Miami-Dade daycare center owner appear in federal magistrate's court Tuesday afternoon, following his arrest during a child pornography investigation.

Alejandro Ancarola faces one count of possession of child pornography.

Ancarola's lawyer, Nayib Hassan, said his client will face a pre-trial detention hearing next Tuesday and will be arraigned on August 13th. Nine of Ancarola's family members were in the courtroom for his initial appearance, none spoke to the media on advice from Hassan.

Federal Judge Jonathan Goodman said in court that it was "always nice to have family members" present at hearings but he also said that they should be prepared to be co-signors for the bond that would be needed in this case.

Ancarola was taken into custody when the Department of Homeland Security served a warrant around 4:30 a.m. Monday at the Little Seeds Academy Child Care and Learning Center at 10470 Bird Road.

HSI spokesman Nestor Iglesias said the morning raid was tied to a search warrant seeking evidence such as computers, cellphones and laptops.

He also said it is unclear yet if any children from the daycare center were involved in pornography but investigators are looking into that.

One role of Homeland Security agents is to investigate crimes that exploit children.

Miami-Dade police, also involved in the probe, did not say if Ancarola worked at the daycare or just lived at the home.

Parents are very concerned.

"You see these people every day you just don't expect these things to happen especially here in a facility where children are," said parent Zaira Perez. "I have three kids here. I have my baby, a 4-year-old and another who used to go to school here so our main concern is that they are all okay and none are involved in this situation. This is the worst nightmare for any parent."

Perez told CBS4'S Peter D'Oench "My heart aches for what happened. We just don't know. These are my little babies. Just to know that that person had contact with the kids. It is disgusting."

Another parent, Ana Hernandez, said, "We just want to know what happened to our kids. We want to know if any of the pictures on the computers are of our kids. My want to clear up the situation."

Sophia Ramirez, another parent, was near tears when she said, "How do you take this news? There are no answers at all. I don't have words for this. You put your trust in people here with the kids."

Another parent, Mirna Gomez, another parent, said, "My daughter is the last one out of the day care every day and she leaves when the man who was arrested is there. She was there when no one else was there and I worry about her being in contact with him."

Gomez also said he had spoken with the daughter of the owner and said, "She said these allegations are not true, what's being reported. She said it only has to do with something personal and not something with the daycare."

Gomez said she was told the daycare was going to voluntarily shut down for a week.

"They'd don't have to," said Gomez. "They are going to do this on their own."

D'Oench also caught up with the daughter of the daycare owner, who was identified as Julietta. She was speaking with the concerned parents.

"What are you telling them about the daycare?" Julietta was asked.

"I am telling them that I am like them, that I just don't know what is going on," she said.

"Are you telling them if they were impacted?" Julietta was asked.

"They haven't been," she said. "This was just something to do with computers and something personal and not the daycare."

DCF, the Department of Children and Families, is investigating.