Belgrade man arraigned on child pornography crimes

BILLINGS - A Belgrade man accused of producing and distributing child pornography involving multiple minors appeared today for arraignment on a nine-count indictment, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, Tyrell Forest Anderson, 35, also of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with three counts of production of child pornography, four counts of distribution of child pornography and two counts of transfer of obscene material to a minor. If convicted of the most serious crime, Anderson faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to a lifetime of supervised release.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan presided. Anderson was detained pending further proceedings.

The indictment alleges that on separate occasions in 2023 to March 2024, in Laurel and Bozeman, Anderson knowingly coerced three minors, identified as Jane Doe 1, 2 and 3, to produce sexually explicit images of themselves. The indictment further alleges that in February 2024 in Bozeman, Anderson distributed images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct to three other minors, identified as Jane Doe 4 and 5 and John Doe 1, using a computer and the internet, and that Anderson, using Snapchat, sent obscene images to two minors, identified as Jane Doe 6 and 7, in Bozeman.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is prosecuting the case. The Bozeman Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.

The charging documents are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.

PACER case reference. 24-113.

The progress of cases may be monitored through the U.S. District Court Calendar and the PACER system. To establish a PACER account, which provides electronic access to review documents filed in a case, please visit http://www.pacer.gov/register.html. To access the District Court's calendar, please visit https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.

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