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Press Release

Aliquippa Man Identified by Fingerprint Ridges in Sexually Explicit Photo is Sentenced to 22+ Years in Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH - A resident of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 270 months, followed by lifetime supervised release, on his conviction of production of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

Senior United States District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose imposed the sentence on Tyler Seevers, 25, formerly of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

According to information presented to the court at the time Seevers entered a plea of guilty, on July 20 and 21, 2014, Seevers produced sexually explicit photographs of a female child, 3 years of age, using an iPod Touch. The iPod Touch was turned over to law enforcement by Seever’s girlfriend, the victim’s mother, who had discovered the photographs of her daughter. Forensic analysis of the contents of the iPod Touch revealed images of both the 3-year-old and her older sister. One such sexually exploitive photograph depicted the ridges of the photographer’s fingertips. A fingerprint analyst with the Pennsylvania State Police was able to identify Seevers’ hand as that depicted in the photograph.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Prior to imposing sentencing, Judge Ambrose stated that this case and other cases involving the sexual exploitation of children and the production of images depicting that exploitation are the most serious that come before the court.

Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn J. Bloch prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Hopewell Township Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Seevers.

Updated March 15, 2016

Topic
Project Safe Childhood