Diamond man pleads guilty to receiving, distributing child pornography

A Diamond man pleaded guilty this morning in U. S. District Court in Springfield to receiving and distributing child pornography.

Judge David P. Rush ordered a pre-sentenced investigation for Larry Lyle, 69, and a sentencing date will be set.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, the minimum sentence Lyle can be handed is five years, while the maximum sentence is 20 years. He can also be fined up to $250,000.

Lyle's crimes were described in a detention motion filed August 9:

(On) May 21, 2018, Cincinnati, Ohio, Division FBI, received a report of a possible child enticement involving a 14-year-old minor female, Jane Doe.

Jane Doe’s parents located communications between Jane Doe and the defendant within the messaging app of an online game and within Jane Doe’s emails. 

The messages were sexual in nature and the defendant was aware of Jane Doe’s age. Based upon the IP addresses associated with the defendant’s emails, the FBI was able to determine that the IP address checked back to the defendant with a service address in Diamond, Missouri.

On January 15, 2019, FBI TFO Charles Root contacted the defendant at his residence and conducted a post-Miranda interview. The defendant admitted to communicating with numerous individuals, including underage minor females, via Internet-based video games, such as the one used by Jane Doe.

The defendant stated that many of the conversations with the minor females were sexual in nature and he had discussed meeting the minor females; however, the defendant claimed he was just “farting around.” 

The defendant stated that the minor females he was chatting with were a 14-year-old and 15-year-old girl; however, he did not know who either girl was.

The defendant also admitted he received nude images of the minor females, but he claimed that he had not kept them.