A Woodbury, Minn., man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison following his conviction in a case U.S. District Judge Jerry W. Blackwell called a “deliberant, persistent sextortion scheme” at sentencing.
Timothy Lennard Gebhart, 38, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 360 months of imprisonment for production and attempted production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, and interstate communications with intent to extort, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen on Thursday.
The indictment filed last year explains that Gebhart used social media platforms including Instagram and Snapchat to locate minor victims, gain their trust, and then extort them into sending him sexually explicit materials of the minor victims.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that for more than two years, from July 2021 until September 2023, Gebhart executed a massive “sextortion” scheme designed to victimize minor children. Gebhart used online platforms to target minor children as young as 12 years old and used aliases—including 66 different Snapchat aliases—to pose as a teenager or someone much younger than his true age. Gebhart would befriend his victims and then convince them to send him sexually explicit videos and photos. He also sought out sexual encounters with his victims.
After Gebhart obtained the sexually explicit materials from the children, he would threaten to distribute the photos and videos to the classmates, friends, and family members of his victims unless his victims provided him with more sexually explicit materials. Gebhart would also send his child victims disturbing videos depicting gruesome and violent deaths to shock them into compliance. Gebhart’s threats to the children often included hateful language, the press release said.
Federal inmates must serve a minimum of 85% of their sentence incarcerated before becoming eligible for parole. Gebhart’s imprisonment will be followed by 10 years of supervised release.
The case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Woodbury Police Department, and the Indiana State Police.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
