Former LA-area man who used Russian photo-sharing website to obtain, share and advertise child pornography sentenced to 25 years in federal prison

LOS ANGELES – A former West Covina resident was sentenced today to 300 months in federal prison for uploading images of child pornography to a Russian photo-sharing website and publishing an advertisement that sought to exchange sexually-explicit images of children.

Christopher Clay Roman-Tuttle, 33, now of Spokane, Washington, who also uses the name Christopher Clay Tuttle, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson. Once he completes the prison sentence, Tuttle will be required to register as a sex offender and will be on supervised release for the rest of his life.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Los Angeles, and resulted in Roman-Tuttle pleading guilty in March to one count of advertising child pornography – which carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison.

When he pleaded guilty, Roman-Tuttle admitted that he created an online account in 2015 that he used to publish an advertisement seeking to receive, exchange and distribute child pornography. He further admitted that he posted two photo albums – one containing non-pornographic images of a minor known to him, and one of which contained images of unknown children being sexually exploited. Roman-Tuttle advertised these images and sought to obtain additional images in a statement, which read, in part: “Preteens and tween’s in diapers is cool too…. I’d love to meet up with a parent that wants to share their daughter (of course id make it worth their wile).”

In response to the advertisement, Roman-Tuttle received numerous emails over the course of two days from dozens of individuals seeking to exchange child pornography with him, and many of these individuals sent him digital files of child pornography. Roman-Tuttle admitted sending child pornography to many of these individuals. In emails to some of these other individuals, Roman-Tuttle described his desire to sexually abuse children, including the minor known to him, whom he admitted to having sexually abused in the past, according to his plea agreement.

“Based on defendant’s online activity, it is clear that defendant has a sexual interest in children, and used child pornography to seek out individuals who would allow him sexual access to other children,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo filed with the court. “In aid of this quest, defendant treated images of sexually-exploited children as currency, offering to trade images and videos from his collection to obtain his preferred images of girls between five and eight years old.”

In his plea agreement, Roman-Tuttle also admitted possessing more than 9,000 images and 330 videos of child pornography on his computer and on other devices, including images depicting the sexual abuse and exploitation of infants or toddlers. He also admitted to knowingly possessing a sexually explicit image of the minor known to him.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

HSI is a founding member of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.

This case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney, Central District of California’s Violent and Organized Crime Section.