Special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children squad have arrested a La Vergne man in an ongoing child-exploitation probe, state officials said Friday. A Rutherford County grand jury indicted 24-year-old Jacob Taylor on charges that include aggravated rape of a child and aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and deputies took him into custody on Feb. 6, according to WSMV. He was booked into the Rutherford County Jail, where he is being held on a $75,000 bond while investigators continue their work.
In a Facebook Reel posted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, agents discussed the case and stressed that the charges are only allegations. They reminded viewers that Taylor is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
Investigation timeline
According to WSMV, the TBI opened its investigation after U.S. Homeland Security Investigations notified state agents in December 2022 about suspected child sexual abuse material that had been uploaded in 2017. A joint investigation followed, and by February 2025, TBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children squad had concluded that Taylor was pictured in those files. A Rutherford County grand jury later returned indictments that include one count of aggravated rape of a child, one count of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and one count of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor. WSMV reports that deputies arrested Taylor on Feb. 6 and that he remains in jail on a $75,000 bond.
TBI's wider ICAC work
Officials say this arrest is part of a broader, long-running push to crack down on online child exploitation across Tennessee, with the Internet Crimes Against Children unit frequently conducting targeted operations that result in multiple arrests and large digital evidence seizures.
In a 2024 recap of its statewide "Operation Protecting Tomorrow," the TBI said agents seized more than 181 electronic devices and recovered an initial preview of over 264,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material. Officials say numbers like that underscore why cross-jurisdictional work and tips from the public are crucial to finding victims and building cases.
Legal process and how to help
Taylor faces multiple felony counts in Rutherford County. Court dates were not immediately listed in available agency materials, and the case is expected to move through the local criminal court system in the coming months.
Anyone with information that could assist investigators is asked to contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tip line at 1-800-TBI-FIND or by email at [email protected], as the agency noted in its public post.
