ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Eyewitness News discovered that people caught with child pornography often never go to prison. It's part of Florida law that has even prosecutors demanding a change.

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In the sterile circuits of a hard drive, computer repairman George Maldonado discovered a customer's dirty secret: more than a dozen pictures and video clips of pre-schoolers being forced to have sex with adults.

"I got sick. It was very disgusting," he says.

Orange County detectives arrested 66-year-old Joseph Krolicki, from Winter Garden, on possession of child pornography.

"I expected this person would be put in jail," says Maldonado.

But when Krolicki went in front of Orange County Judge Fredrick Lauren, he pled guilty but avoided jail. He was listed as a sex offender and only received three years probation. On top of that, the judge withheld adjudication, meaning he has no record.

"If the proof was on there and they seen it, I don't know how he could get out of it," says Maldonado.

A Channel 9 analysis of child porn cases across Florida found this is not unusual. In fact, three out of ten people arrested on the charge get their records erased and might not even have to disclose their criminal history on a job application.

"It just doesn't make any sense," says Don Wood, the founder of Child Watch of North America. He says these crimes need to land people in prison.

A recent study by the Department of Justice found that two-thirds of people who lure kids over the Internet have child pornography on their computers.

"It's common sense to know, if a guy is looking at child pornography, he's probably going to molest a child," says Wood.

But Eyewitness News discovered that, when it's time for sentencing, Florida ranks possession of child pornography as the least severe felony you can commit. Right now, under Florida law, possession of those types of pictures is considered as serious as stealing stone crabs from an ocean trap, or rolling back the odometer on your car before you sell it.

The level one ranking isn't enough to land you in jail if you don't have a prior record. Orange County investigators have tried to work around that loophole by charging suspects on each individual picture they find.

"By charging them for each picture, we can usually wind up with them to get these people jail time," says Detective Kevin Stenger, Orange County Sheriff's Department.

But even with that tactic, a third of people arrested on child porn charges in Orange and Osceola counties get their record erased.

"I think it's treated too low," says attorney Norm Wolfinger.

Wolfinger, prosecutor for Brevard and Seminole counties, says the real solution is to change the law. State lawmakers have to make that happen.

"Whatever we can do to curtail where they're heading," says Wolfinger.

George Maldonado says it's time. "Somebody out there in Tallahassee should be doing something about it."