CLERMONT, Fla. – What started as an investigation into a Clermont hospital employee has now escalated further, according to court records obtained by News 6.
In a criminal complaint, investigators said that an operative with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office went undercover in September 2025, posing as a 15-year-old boy on the LGBT hookup app “Sniffies.”
During the investigation, the operative contacted a user named “astarbird,” investigators added.
“Astarbird showed an interest in meeting, and when asked what they wanted to do, they stated ‘making out, hand job, oral, rimming, anal,’” the complaint reads.
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Investigators said they were able to trace the account back to Aaron Starbird, an employee at South Lake Hospital in Clermont.
They also noted that Starbird had previously worked at ORMC, where child patients were potentially receiving treatment.
“In conversations with other users, (Starbird) expresses an interest in ‘teen’ boys, and there are several files depicting the suspect engaging in sexual activity with age indeterminate males,” the complaint continues.
By late November, Orange County deputies pulled Starbird over along SR-408, where his device was seized, court records show. Starbird was then interviewed in an agency vehicle.
While Starbird initially claimed that he tries to avoid interacting with juveniles online, he was soon shown evidence of his messages sent to the undercover agent, the complaint reveals.
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“Starbird would often send nude images of himself to people on Sniffies or Snapchat and confirmed that one of the photos shown depicted him and that he sent the files...” the complaint states. “Starbird implied that he had met with juveniles in person but would deny them once he learned their age.”
Over a week later, detectives said they found conversations on his device that implied he’d engaged in sexual activities with juveniles in the past.
Around 100 files of child porn were also found on the device, including files depicting infants and toddlers, investigators said.
As a result, Starbird was arrested by Orange County deputies in December and subsequently charged with the following:
- Unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child - 10 or more images (10 counts)
- Obscene material transmit information harmful to minors (2 counts)
- Solicitation of a minor via a computer
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Investigators said that Starbird has since been released on bond, and a pre-trial conference hearing is scheduled for June 9.
However, court records show that detectives looped the FBI into the investigation last month, and after reviewing the conversations on Starbird’s device, an agent realized that there are likely local child victims that Starbird communicated with for the sole purpose of engaging in sexual activity.
This includes one child victim who admitted to investigators that he’d met with Starbird after sneaking away from home at night to engage in “sexual acts.”
“(The victim) stated that Starbird tried to meet with him again on a few occasions, but (the victim) never did because he felt ashamed and guilty,” the complaint notes.
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Furthermore, the FBI agent said that Starbird appeared to try to get the victim to entice his younger brothers to engage in similar sexual activities.
“Starbird stated in one of these communications that it ‘has always been a fantasy of his to be with brothers,’” the complaint adds.
According to court records, the agent wrote that he has located evidence of at least 30 other children who are believed to have engaged in sexual acts with Starbird after communicating with him online.
You can read through the full complaint below.