A 20-year-old man who grew up in Yates County but was living in Tennessee at the time of his crimes has been sentenced to two to six years in state prison after admitting he coerced a local child into sending him sexually explicit images. Tyler Castner must also register as a sex offender and is now subject to a final order of protection on behalf of the minor.
The sentence came after Castner pleaded guilty to promoting a sexual performance by a child, according to Finger Lakes Daily News. Prosecutors said Castner communicated electronically with the minor, coerced the child into sending explicit images, and also sent the victim sexual images and videos of himself. The sentence was handed down in Yates County Court, per the Finger Lakes Times, which reported the sentence was announced by Yates County District Attorney Todd Casella.
Castner's connection to the county goes back to his upbringing there, even though he was living in Ooltewah, Tennessee at the time investigators say he coerced the Yates County minor into sending him sexual images, according to the same reporting. As reported by WHEC, Castner was 20 years old and living out of state when the case against him moved forward in New York courts.
From Indictment to Extradition
Castner was indicted by a Yates County grand jury, then arrested and extradited to New York to face prosecution, the station's report states. Reporting on the original charges described a Yates County Superior Court warrant filed in March, though accounts of the exact felony counts have varied between outlets. One version described seven counts of use of a child in a sexual performance, seven counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child, and a first-degree count of disseminating indecent material to a minor. A separate report instead described two counts of dissemination of indecent material to a minor, seven counts of use of a child in a sexual performance, and seven counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child.
Regardless of the exact charging breakdown, the case ultimately resolved with Castner's guilty plea to promoting a sexual performance by a child. Under New York law, a person is guilty of that offense when, knowing the character and content of a performance, they produce, direct, or promote a performance that includes sexual conduct by a child younger than 17, according to New York State Senate statute records.
Registration and Protective Order
As part of the sentence, Castner will be required to register as a sex offender under New York's Sex Offender Registration Act, the same local report notes. A final order of protection was also issued on behalf of the minor involved in the case.
New York's sex offender registry overview, maintained by the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services, notes that offenders convicted of a qualifying sex offense, or sentenced to probation, local jail, or state prison after a certain date, must register with the state upon returning to the community, according to New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services guidance. That requirement will now apply to Castner once his prison term concludes.
The case is one of several involving online exploitation of minors to surface in the broader Finger Lakes and Southern Tier region. In a separate case cited in a Justice Department search snippet, Tristan Kovacs, 23, of Waverly, New York, was reported to have been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for sexual exploitation of a child and transportation of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York.
