Seattle childcare worker receives over 6 years for possessing child pornography
Defendant’s extensive collection included images of child rape
SEATTLE – A former Seattle child care worker was sentenced Friday to 78 months in prison followed by 15 years’ supervised release for possession of child pornography, after a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Kyle J. Tate, 34, was arrested in May and pleaded guilty in November after another individual implicated him in the collection and sharing of child pornography. HSI special agents acted swiftly in obtaining a federal search warrant to seize digital devices located in Tate’s home due to his proximity to children at the Hutch Kids Child Care Center where he worked.
According to court documents, digital devices belonging to Tate contained more than 5,600 images and 627 videos of children, including infants, being sexually molested and abused. At the time of hs arrest, Tate had been responsible for the infant care room at the center for nearly five years. Previously, he worked as a Sunday school teacher, a teacher at KinderCare and a care provider at the YMCA.
“The fast actions taken by our HSI special agents to apprehend and remove Tate’s access to children are commendable,” said Brad Bench, special agent in charge of HSI Seattle. “Combining efforts with our partners in the Seattle PD ICAC yet again resulted in a successful investigation crucial to prosecuting cases that target individuals who are harming our innocent youth.”
The case was investigated in cooperation with the Seattle Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) and prosecuted by Special Assistant U. S. Attorney Cecelia Gregson, a Senior Deputy King County Prosecutor specially designated to prosecute child exploitation cases in federal court.
“This defendant made a point of working with children and lulling parents and employers into trusting him – and then betrayed that trust,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “This conviction and sentence will provide protection for our communities. Not only will Mr. Tate spend time in prison, when he gets out he will be subject to federal monitoring for 15 years, and will be required to register as a sex offender.”
The charges in this case are a product of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators.
Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute those who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims.
Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 14,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.
For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.
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