A Bryant man was sentenced on Friday, March 6, 2026, to serve 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing child sexual abuse materials, federal officials announced. Read more below.
Tyler Dane Wooten, age 36, received a 360-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky, according to Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
In addition to the prison term, Wooten was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and pay $81,000 in restitution to victims. Federal officials noted that there is no parole in the federal prison system.
Wooten was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 9, 2024, in a 12-count superseding indictment. The charges included multiple counts of distribution of child sexual abuse materials, production of child sexual abuse materials, attempted distribution, receipt and attempted receipt, and possession of child sexual abuse materials.
According to court documents, the investigation began in April 2024, when an FBI Online Covert Employee (OCE) began communicating with a user using the display name “Bad Daddy.” Investigators later identified the account as belonging to Wooten.
Authorities said Wooten participated in an online chat group devoted to exchanging child sexual abuse materials images and videos. During the investigation, agents determined that between April and June 2024, Wooten and other members of the group exchanged material depicting adults sexually abusing children, including toddlers and infants.
In one private conversation with the undercover agent, Wooten said he previously had “100+ gigs” of child sexual abuse materials, but claimed he deleted it during what he described as a “paranoid episode.” He also told the agent he was “just starting back into collecting” and was searching for additional material involving infants and toddlers.
Investigators later discovered that Wooten had communicated with another user who was sexually abusing a child at Wooten’s direction while recording the abuse.
Wooten was arrested July 30, 2024, and during the arrest law enforcement officers located 3,945 videos of child sexual abuse materials on his electronic devices.
The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The program coordinates federal, state, and local resources to locate offenders, prosecute those who exploit children online, and identify and rescue victims.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant.
See other recent articles about crime in Saline County or Arkansas at www.mysaline.com/tags/crime.
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