Cincinnati man admits to sexually exploiting teenager, 7-year-old

CINCINNATI - Kyle Rist, 39, of Cincinnati, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to two child exploitation crimes involving online conduct with a teenager and in-person conduct with a 7-year-old.

Rist admitted to coercion and enticement and sexual exploitation of children and faces 15 to 30 years in prison.

According to court documents, in September 2023, the grandparents of a teenaged victim alerted law enforcement in Oregon that their granddaughter had been sending and receiving sexually explicit videos of herself and of Rist through Facebook and SnapChat.

Rist referred to himself as daddy to the victim and told the victim they were in a relationship. Rist - pretending to be another man by the name of Jeremy Hadley - had ongoing online discussions with the same teenage victim.

Between August and November 2024, Rist sexually exploited a 7-year-old child by creating videos and images of the victim engaging in and assisting another person in sexually explicit conduct.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the guilty plea entered today before U.S. District Judge Douglas R. Cole. Assistant United States Attorney Danielle E. Margeaux and Kyle J. Healey are representing the United States in this case.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

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