Tennessee Contractor Slammed 8+ Years for Child Porn

A Department of Defense contractor from Tennessee has been sentenced to eight years and one month in federal prison for receiving child sex abuse materials over the internet.

27-year-old Tyler Lee Murrell, of Hillsboro, Tennessee, was also ordered to serve a 15-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender, according to a recent statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Murrell entered a guilty plea on December 7, 2023, after being arrested on July 17, 2023. He was initially ordered detained pending the outcome of proceedings in the case.

According to court documents, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) received information from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) about two CyberTipline Reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in March 2023.

The tips advised that child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) were suspected of being uploaded to a wireless cloud account, with subscriber information indicating the account belonged to Murrell, a resident of Jacksonville, Florida.

NCIS learned that Murrell worked for a company at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and obtained a search warrant for his cloud account, where they located a video depicting CSAM from one of the CyberTips and additional files of CSAM.

During an interview with law enforcement following his arrest, Murrell admitted to purchasing and receiving CSAM, as well as speaking with an adult woman who would send him videos of CSAM.

The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Washington handling the prosecution.

This case is another example of the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, which is being combated through the nationwide initiative, Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

As we continue to shine a light on these horrific crimes, it is imperative that we hold accountable those who seek to harm our children.

We urge anyone with information about child sex abuse or exploitation to come forward and report it to the authorities.

Let us work together to create a safer and more just society for all.