Friday, July 30, 2010

Teen with Asperger's named in Missouri child porn case

From KCTV:

HIGGINSVILLE, Mo. -- A Higginsville teen was arrested July 27 in connection with a series of cyber sex crimes involving children as young as 2 years old in a case with a number of twists.

According to court documents, the investigation into the computer child porn case started more than a year ago and the charges came a full year later, only after a report of an in-person sex crime at the local pool.

"Well, that's why I haven't seen him walk up the road," neighbor Sandi Johnson, who regularly joins her puppy Kilo on her porch, said.

Johnson said she had no idea the neighbor she knows as "Big Mac" is now in jail.

"I hate to hear that," Johnson said. "Because, I mean he was a polite kid."

That kid, Tyler Hackley, 18, now faces 23 counts of possessing child pornography, downloading and file sharing of images containing children as young as 2 years old engaged in sex acts.

According to the charging documents, it was July 2009 when the investigation began, with a search warrant served on the teen's home a month later.

On July 13 of this year, a sheriff's detective typed up the paperwork suggesting charges. Three days later, on July 16, he was charged, only after an accusation in the interim at the city pool.

A 13-year-old girl told police she was inappropriately touched at the pool on July 15 by Hackley.

Hackley's mother called KCTV in tears to say she doesn't even know what child porn is and that her son has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.

Sheriff's officials or prosecutor's officials were unavailable late Tuesday for comment on why it took more than a year for charges to be filed.