PARIS – Special agents assigned to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force have arrested and charged a man in connection to an ongoing investigation into online child sexual exploitation.

TBI agents began the investigation after receiving information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about an individual, later identified as Ernest Brown (DOB 3-17-1979), who possessed and distributed multiple files of child sexual abuse material through Facebook. Agents subsequently determined Brown to be in possession of more than 5,000 files of child sexual abuse material.

Today, agents, with the assistance of TBI’s Criminal Investigation Division, TBI’s Cybercrime & Digital Evidence Unit, the Henry County Sheriff’s Department, and Homeland Security Investigations, searched Brown’s home, seized 10 electronic devices, and arrested Brown, charging him with 10 counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor and two counts of Aggravated Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. Authorities booked him into the Henry County Jail on $500,000 bond.

The investigation remains ongoing and anyone with information about Brown, in relation to these alleged crimes, should contact TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND or TipsToTBI@tbi.tn.gov.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is an ICAC affiliate of the Tennessee ICAC Task Force. Anyone with information about cases of online child exploitation should contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Tipline at 1-800-TBI-FIND, TipsToTBI@tbi.tn.gov, or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org.

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