Oak Harbor man pleads guilty to 18 child porn charges

PORT CLINTON — An Oak Harbor man recently pleaded guilty to a little over a dozen felony charges for previously possessing and downloading child pornography. At a court hearing on July 25, Tyler J. Horn, 19, 400 block N. Locust St., pleaded guilty to 17 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person, each a second-degree felony, and one count of illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance, also a second-degree felony. As part of Horn's plea, no charges appeared to have been amended or dismissed, and he is likely to be classified as a Tier 2 sex offender, which means he must verify his home and work addresses every six months for 25 years, according to court records. Horn is scheduled to be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 15. Background The investigation into Horn first began on Dec. 8, 2024, after agents with the Ottawa County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding three video uploads possibly containing "child sexual abuse material," according to a report from the Ottawa County prosecutor's office. Following this tip, law enforcement began reviewing the three videos that allegedly contained the "child sexual abuse material," which depicted pre-pubescent girls in various stages of sexual intercourse with an adult man, the report states. Due to the content of the videos, a criminal analyst with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors' Office's Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force sent a subpoena to Spectrum for the IP address. The subpoena linked back to a Verizon phone number at Horn's residence, the report states. On Dec. 16, law enforcement received a second cybertip from the task force's data system, which allegedly contained ten additional videos of a similar nature that were uploaded to Kik and Telegram, the report states. Law enforcement reviewed the information from Spectrum, and the results confirmed that the IP address associated with the accounts belonged to Horn. Due to the results from Spectrum, agents obtained a search warrant for Horn's residence and electronic devices, the report states. On April 1, members of the major crimes unit and Oak Harbor police responded to Horn's home, where he was advised of his rights and was asked if he had been viewing child pornography. Horn allegedly admitted to police that he had viewed child pornography in the past, but has since deleted everything and stopped viewing it a while ago, the report states. When asked by police where he kept the pornographic images, Horn said that they would be on his cell phone. Horn voluntarily allowed police to access his phone and advised them that he had thousands of pornographic images and videos saved, the report states. Due to the evidence found on his phone and Horn's alleged admission to law enforcement, he was transported to and booked into the Ottawa County jail on one count of pandering obscenity involving a minor, a second-degree felony. On April 9, Horn was indicted by an Ottawa County grand jury on 17 additional felony charges, with the crimes having occurred between December 2024 and April 2025, according to his indictment.