Timothy James Bryant, Child Pornography, North Carolina 2022

A Durham County man has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term for his role in the production and distribution of child pornography. Timothy James Bryant, 27, was sentenced to 360 months in prison, followed by a 15-year term of supervised release, for knowingly receiving child pornography.

The investigation into Bryant's activities began in 2019 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a tip regarding a Twitter user who was suspected of uploading images of child pornography to the platform. Agents from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI) identified Bryant as the suspect and executed a search warrant at his residence in October 2020.

During the search, NCSBI agents located several items that contained child pornography, including multiple devices with over 25,000 images and videos. Bryant was arrested on state charges without incident. Subsequent interviews and search warrants revealed that Bryant had been in possession of the devices and had been using them to download and distribute child pornography.

In March 2021, NCMEC received a new tip from Snapchat regarding suspected inappropriate conduct by a user who was later linked to Bryant. A federal search warrant was executed on Bryant's phone, revealing additional videos of child pornography. Bryant had previously been convicted of two counts of Third Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in Durham County Superior Court in 2014.

Bryant was charged by Indictment in the Middle District of North Carolina in April 2021 with one count of knowingly receiving and attempting to receive child pornography and one count of knowingly possessing child pornography. He pled guilty to one count of receiving child pornography in September 2021.

In addition to his imprisonment and supervised release, Bryant was ordered to pay $133,500 in restitution to 27 victims. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, and the Durham Police Department assisted with the investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kennedy Gates as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) to coordinate federal, state, and local resources to better identify and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. The initiative focuses on bringing perpetrators to justice and providing support to victims and their families.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdnc/pr/durham-county-man-sentenced-360-months-prison-sexual-exploitation-minors