He tried to woo child predators into a trap, Florida cops say. That landed him in cuffs
A Central Florida man set out to trap child predators in order to report them to authorities. However, an allegedly noble mission landed him in trouble when he used child porn to bait them, police said.
Tyler McCann-Carter, 24, was charged with eight counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of distribution of child exploitation material. As of Tuesday, he was still in jail, records show.
Earlier this year, Gainesville police were tipped off that a person was using Kik, a messenger app, to distribute child porn, Gainesville police said.
After a search warrant was served on Feb. 3, Detective Montague found McCann-Carter was the one sending out child sexual abuse material.
During an interview, detectives said McCann-Carter told them he wasn’t attracted to children and would have deleted the videos.
He said he was “trying to bait somebody out” so he could later report them. Detectives said he knew that he was using real child porn of pre-pubescents in order to “bait” the predators.
He was arrested on Monday and formally charged.
“The Gainesville Police Department wants parents to be aware that children are being solicited and exploited through social networking and messaging apps,” police said. “Please be vigilant and aware of any social networking platforms your children may access.”
This story was originally published August 15, 2023 at 4:47 PM.
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