WOODBURY, MN & ST. PAUL, MN (WNN) – A Woodbury man, Timothy Lennard Gebhart, 38, has pleaded guilty to charges related to “Child Sextortion”.
According to the Department of Justice, Gebhart pleaded guilty to coercing a 16-year-old child, and 14-year-old child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing pornographic videos.
The Federal indictment reads that Gebhart would use on-line platforms including Instagram and Snapchat to locate victims.
The DOJ says after obtaining the images, Gebhart distributed the videos via computer and cellular phone. He then used the pornographic videos to extort money and other items of value from the 16-year-old by threatening to damage the victim’s reputation by sending nude photos and videos to her family and friends.
The indictment also claims Gebhart would send graphic and explicit videos of suicides and murders to coerce and intimidate the minors.
In a news release Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said, ““Sextortion—threatening to share explicit images of a victim unless they comply with a predator’s demands—is abhorrent… All too often, our children become victims of these monstrous schemes. My office will continue to prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of the law.”
The crimes in this case happened between mid-2021 and early 2022.
He pled guilty to production and distribution of child sexual abuse material and for coercing minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct.
Gebhart faces a mandatory minimum 15-year sentence.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
