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Robert Jackson Wyatt, Jr. 54, of Fallston, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release for the distribution of child pornography, prosecutors announced.
He has a previous federal conviction for possession of child pornography, they noted.
According to his guilty plea, in August 2021, Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force launched an investigation into the possession and distribution of child pornography online, which led them to Wyatt and his Harford County home.
Investigators determined that multiple offenders were sharing child pornography using a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing that enables them to share files over the Internet in a “decentralized manner.”
One of the IP addresses that was sharing suspected child pornography was linked to Wyatt, and a search warrant was executed at his Fallston home in October that year; however, he was not home.
Instead, Wyatt was at a nearby marina, on his boat, where federal prosecutors say he often spent time.
Little did he know he was being surveilled, and investigators watched him at the marina as he walked from the boat to his car, and then back to his Harford County home, where he was confronted by police.
A subsequent search of Wyatt’s phone - to which he consented - led to the recovery of several child pornography files, and the discovery of even more dubious materials, including a chat app that included group messages that were labeled: “Incest and Little Girl” and “mommy and daughter.”
Then investigators searched the man’s boat.
On the boat, two thumb drives were found with multiple images and videos of child pornography, including several known series involving the depiction of babies, toddlers, and sadomasochistic abuse of children.
Several of the files also matched those that implicated Wyatt in the state police’s initial investigation.
Wyatt admitted that he was the person who shared files with state police investigators, and in total, more than 1170 images files and over 170 video files were located on Wyatt’s devices.
When he is released from prison, the judge also ordered that Wyatt register as a sex offender anywhere he lives, works, or is a student under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
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