Oak Harbor man sentenced to prison for child porn

OAK HARBOR — An Oak Harbor man was sentenced to prison Monday after previously pleading guilty to possessing and downloading child pornography. Tyler J. Horn, 19, 400 block N. Locust St., was convicted on 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. Horn pleaded guilty to those charges at a court hearing on July 25, and no charges were dismissed or amended as a result of his plea. Ottawa County Common Pleas Court Judge Bruce Winters sentenced Horn to two-to-three years on the illegal use charge and two years on each of the 17 pandering charges. But those sentences will be served concurrently, for an overall prison term of two-to-three years. Under the terms of his sentencing, Horn received credit for 23 days served in jail and is subject to a mandatory term of five years of post-release control, according to court records. Ahead of Horn's scheduled sentencing, his lawyer, Samuel E. Gold, filed a motion on Oct. 17 asking that the court consider giving Horn probation instead of prison time due to Horn having no prior criminal history and not causing "serious physical harm" to the victims related to his charges. Gold also asked the court to consider Horn's mental health struggles, particularly anxiety, when deciding his sentence, stating that Horn sought out treatment around the time of his indictment and has met regularly with a psychotherapist since May 28, 2025. "He has made significant strides to correct his behaviors, identify triggers, and not place himself in a position to reoffend," Gold wrote. "The structure of community control, combined with continued treatment, would enable (Horn) to succeed as a productive member of society." Background The investigation into Horn began in December 2024, when agents with Ottawa County's major crimes unit received two tips regarding videos that contained "child sexual abuse material" from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to a report from the Ottawa County prosecutor's office. Following this tip, law enforcement began reviewing the videos, 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 subpoena was sent to Spectrum for the IP address. Law enforcement examined Spectrum's data, which verified that the IP address linked to the accounts was Horn's. Based on Spectrum's findings, agents obtained a search warrant for Horn's residence and electronic devices and went to his home on April 1, 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.