Lee County Man Sentenced To Seven Years In Federal Prison For Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Images Using The Internet

 Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Kyle William O’Brien (28, Estero) to 7 years in federal prison for using the internet to distribute images depicting the sexual abuse of children. O’Brien was also sentenced to a lifetime term of supervised release and was ordered to register as a sex offender.

O’Brien had pleaded guilty on December 26, 2019.

According to court documents, an individual that O’Brien had met through an online dating application (app) contacted the FBI after O’Brien had sent her images depicting the sexual abuse of children. The woman reported that after she had met O’Brien online on the dating app, the two met in person on February 1, 2019. During their visit, the woman saw O’Brien looking at and swiping through images on his cellphone that depicted the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Later, O’Brien sent the woman an online message using the dating app to invite her to watch a child exploitation video on his television. O’Brien continued to send the woman messages, he also sent her child sex abuse images. 

On April 25, 2019, FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at O’Brien’s home and seized his cellphone. During an interview with law enforcement, O’Brien admitted sending child exploitation materials to the woman from his cellphone. A subsequent forensic examination of O’Brien’s cellphone revealed that the device had been used to search for images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of young children and also contained more than 100 hyperlinks to websites that hosted such materials.  

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fort Myers Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava