EDWARDSVILLE – A Canadian man taken into Vermont custody last week on an Edwardsville arrest warrant faces newly unsealed felony charges of child porn, solicitation and grooming.
40-year-old David Zouzout of Cote-Saint-Luc, Quebec, Canada was charged on Dec. 19, 2025 with two Class X felony counts of child pornography, a Class 1 felony count of child pornography, a Class 3 felony count of indecent solicitation of a child and a Class 4 felony count of grooming.
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The charges against Zouzout were filed in Madison County court and sealed for over eight months before being unsealed on Aug. 25, 2026. The case was presented by the Edwardsville Police Department.
From May 25 to June 26, 2025, Zouzout allegedly knowingly solicited a then-16-year-old child to appear in various depictions of child pornography. He is additionally accused of using an online service to solicit the minor to engage in a sex act which would have qualified as aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
According to the state’s petition to deny Zouzout’s pretrial release from custody, Edwardsville Police Department detectives launched an investigation after receiving a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on June 5, 2025.
“The cybertip reported that an individual identified as David from Montreal, Canada was having sexually explicit conversations via Reddit and Discord with a 16-year-old juvenile … located in Edwardsville,” the petition states. Cote-Saint-Luc is located within the Island of Montreal.
Zouzout was identified as the individual who had been communicating with the minor through subpoenas and search warrants, and the minor confirmed communicating with Zouzout during a June 26, 2025 interview. In addition to having sexually explicit conversations and “discussing meeting up in the future,” the petition notes Zouzout also “sent photographs of his face” to the minor.
According to information from the Vermont State Police, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents at the U.S. Port of Entry in Canaan, Vt. reported Zouzout had an active arrest warrant on child solicitation and other charges out of Edwardsville as he was entering the U.S. border between Canada and Vermont on Aug. 16, 2026. Both agencies verified the warrant was active and extraditable.
Zouzout was then taken into custody by the Vermont State Police and held on $50,000 bail at Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport, Vt. Zouzout’s current location is unknown at the time of this writing.
All individuals charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
