A 40-year-old security guard could face life in prison after allegedly enticing a minor to share sexually explicit photos through Snapchat, Facebook, and PlayStation.
Brett Avery Tipton, of Rockledge, was arrested this week and charged with enticing a minor to produce child sexual abuse material, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
According to the complaint filed against him, Tipton began communicating with a child victim in 2020, when the child was 12 years old. Tipton used SnapChat, Telegram, PlayStation, and Facebook to solicit the child for numerous pictures of the child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
In exchange for the photos, Tipton sent the victim gifts from Amazon, games, gaming equipment, and food.
During their investigation, authorities learned that Tipton engaged in this type of conduct with the victim for more than a year. Tipton distributed the child sex abuse materials that he gathered to online groups that trade in that type of contraband.
During an interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tipton stated that he used his online accounts to interact with and solicit sexually explicit material from young teenage boys and men who ranged in age from 12 to 26-years-old.
If convicted, Tipton faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in prison. Tipton made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd on Friday, September 23, and was ordered detained pending trial.