Jacksonville Man Sentenced to Over 12 Years for Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Material Using Social Media Apps

Jacksonville, Florida - Tyler Bruce McClure (25, Jacksonville) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jordan E. Pratt to 12 and 7 months in federal prison for using social media apps to distribute videos depicting toddler-aged children being sexually abused over the internet. McClure was also ordered to serve a 13-year term of supervised release, pay $16,000 in restitution to child victims, and register as a sex offender. On November 17, 2025, McClure was arrested in Jacksonville and has been in custody since that time. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

McClure pleaded guilty on June 17, 2026.

According to court documents, in June 2025, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding child sexual abuse material (CSAM) being uploaded to a particular online application ("app") by a particular app user known as "Ava_Tree_." The company that owns the app reported that child-pornographic files were uploaded between May 23, 2025, and June 9, 2025. A review of the multimedia files contained in the account used by app user "Ava_Tree_," who was subsequently identified as Tyler Bruce McClure, revealed several videos that depicted minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

There were also text message conversations between McClure and other app users. For example, in one such conversation, McClure negotiated with another app user to purchase videos depicting children being sexually abused using a popular online payment app. Further investigation revealed that an internet protocol (IP) address used to upload the CSAM was linked to a residence in Jacksonville where McClure resided.

On October 7, 2025, JSO detectives, Clay County Sheriff's Office detectives, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents executed a federal search warrant at the residence where McClure had been living. The agents seized an electronic tablet device belonging to McClure, but he was not present at the residence. Later that day, agents made contact with McClure at a local construction site and seized his Samsung cell phone. A subsequent forensic review of McClure's cell phone and his electronic tablet device seized at his residence revealed that together these two devices contained at least 47 videos and 7 photos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including toddlers and other prepubescent children in bondage. This review also showed that on September 26, 2025, McClure used a social media app to distribute a video depicting several young children being sexually abused.

This case was investigated by the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, the Clay County Sheriff's Office, and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify, rescue, and seek justice for child victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."