Man Who Used Child Porn To Find ‘Sexual Nirvana’ Receives Over 10 Years In Prison Sentence

A 26-year-old convict from Broward County, Florida, who claimed that masturbating to child pornography was "sexual nirvana" for him, has been sentenced to over 10 years in prison, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz II sentenced Tyler Washington, of Plantation, to 121 months in federal prison, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement released Wednesday.

According to the DOJ statement, Washington had been convicted of possessing over 5,000 electronic images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children. He previously pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse materials on March 25, 2021.

Prosecutors said Washington used a social networking application to communicate with others who shared his interest in child pornography, additionally noting that he provided access to his collection of child sexual abuse materials to other users who agreed to send him videos of themselves masturbating to his collection.

Washington claimed in one chat session, which involved masturbating to a child sex abuse video, that the activity was "sexual nirvana" for him.

According to the DOJ, Homeland Security Investigations Fort Lauderdale branch investigated the case with assistance from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Plantation Police Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

A day after the announcement of Washington's sentence, a 73-year-old convicted sex offender from Montgomery County, Maryland, was handed a similar sentence for possession of child pornography.

Bruce Ralph Sturtz was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison followed by another 10 years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm, a statement by the DOJ released Thursday said.

Citing Sturtz's plea agreement, the DOJ said the elderly man had been caught red handed downloading child pornography onto his computer during an Oct. 25, 2017 raid by federal authorities at his Gaithersburg home.

A forensic analysis of a number of his seized electronics revealed at least 1,356 videos and 16 pictures depicting child pornography, some of which included babies and toddlers, the DOJ said.

Investigators from the Maryland State Police had monitored Sturtz prior to the raid after three separate law enforcement officers working through the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force downloaded child pornography videos from a device using an IP address assigned to Sturtz's residence, according to the DOJ.

The investigators also found that Sturtz's computer had been running software that allowed other users to download a video that had been previously identified as child pornography.

Sturtz had previously been convicted of a sex offense involving a minor after pleading guilty to a third-degree sex offense in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland on Oct. 6, 2000. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with all but 18 months suspended, plus five years of probation.