Jonathan D. Ross U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas
Tyler Dane Wooten, a 36-year-old man from Bryant, Arkansas, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for producing child pornography. The sentence was announced by Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and was delivered by United States District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky.
Wooten was indicted on October 9, 2024, by a federal grand jury on multiple charges including six counts of distribution of child pornography, one count of production of child pornography, two counts of distribution and attempted distribution of child pornography, two counts of receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. In addition to his prison term, Wooten received a lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $81,000 in restitution. There is no parole available in the federal system.
The investigation began in April 2024 when an FBI Online Covert Employee (OCE) started communicating with a user named “Bad Daddy” on an online platform dedicated to exchanging child pornography. Investigators later identified “Bad Daddy” as Wooten. Evidence showed that between April and June 2024, Wooten participated in group chats where he and others exchanged videos depicting adults engaging in sexual acts with children.
On April 24, 2024, during a private conversation with the OCE, Wooten stated he previously had "100+ gigs of stuff," referring to child pornography material. He told the OCE that he experienced a "guilty conscience" and a "paranoid episode" which led him to delete his collection but said he was "just starting back into collecting" and searching for more explicit content involving babies and toddlers because he "loves good toddler baby stuff."
A review of Wooten’s online activity revealed conversations where he directed another user who then sexually abused a child while filming it at Wooten's request.
Law enforcement arrested Wooten on July 30, 2024. At the time of his arrest they found nearly four thousand videos containing child pornography on his devices.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood—a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006—to address increasing instances of online sexual exploitation and abuse against children by combining resources from various levels of law enforcement agencies for effective prosecution efforts and victim rescue operations. More information about this initiative can be found at https://www.justice.gov/psc.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation into this case. Assistant United States Attorney Kristin Bryant prosecuted it.
