A Port Charlotte man stands indicted on federal charges relating to the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. The United States Attorney's Office announced that 29-year-old Tyler Russell Kuhn is facing up to 50 years in prison if convicted on both counts of the indictment. According to court documents, Kuhn's reprehensible actions included creating and sharing a video and image of child sexual exploitation involving himself and a toddler, activities which are alleged to have taken place during an online conversation back in October 2019.
The indictment, which constitutes no more than an accusation at this juncture, leaves Kuhn presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Nonetheless, the details surfacing from this case paint a harrowing picture of the clandestine dark side of the internet. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Tampa and Houston Field Offices conducted the investigation leading to Kuhn's indictment, an effort spearheaded by Assistant United States Attorney Ilyssa M. Spergel, whose task is to navigate the intricacies of prosecuting these deeply unsettling crimes.
These charges come under the umbrella of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative that has been combating child sexual abuse since its inception in May 2006. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), the project draws on an array of federal, state, and local resources. Its mission is to relentlessly pursue those who commit such offenses and to rescue victims trapped within these atrocious circumstances.
Project Safe Childhood represents a coordinated approach to addressing and diminishing the incidence of child sexual exploitation, an epidemic that mercilessly preys on the most vulnerable members of our society.
