Bonne Terre Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Porn Charge

(Bonne Terre) A St. Francois County man has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in federal court.

48-year-old Tyson Rutledge of Bonne Terre says he’s guilty of one felony charge.

Rutledge appeared in federal court on Friday.

A news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis says on July 22nd of 2019, Rutledge sent a message to an undercover FBI agent participating in a social media chat room.

Rutledge and the undercover agent began to talk about children.

Rutledge asked the undercover officer if he had sex with kids. Rutledge said he likes “young” and has “no limits”.

Rutledge sent the undercover FBI agent a graphic image showing a minor female and her genitals.

After securing a federal search warrant, the FBI searched Rutledge’s home on January 15th of 2020.

Agents seized a laptop, three i-Phones, a DVD, a CD, an H.T.C. cell phone and an I-Pod.

During the search, Rutledge was not home but an FBI agent spoke with him by cellphone and he agreed to meet at Rutledge’s place of employment later in the morning.

Rutledge met with agents and went to the St. Francois Sheriff’s Department and participated in a recorded interview.

Agents, after examining the seized laptop and phones, discovered child pornography images.

They also found histories for downloads, web searches, website visits and chats concerning the sexual exploitation of children.

The judge set sentencing for Tyson Rutledge of Bonne Terre for August 6th.