Spangenberg

Spangenberg

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A Pittston man awaiting trial on charges that he allegedly shared photos and videos of an ex-girlfriend to pornographic websites has been charged with a slew of additional offenses, including possession of child pornography.

Tyler Spangenberg, 22, was arraigned on Friday morning after a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to the discovery of multiple images and videos depicting child pornography on devices belonging to Spangenberg, according to the criminal affidavit filed against him.

Additionally, the affidavit states that additional photos of the victim from the prior investigation into Spangenberg were located during the course of this investigation, as well.

According to the criminal complaint:

The tip was initially sent to the Virginia State Police’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force earlier this year, with investigators from the task force issuing subpoenas regarding a Google email address, which was found to have Spangenberg’s name registered to it.

A credit card with Spangenberg’s name on it was also tied into the Google account, and a phone number listed in the records as belonging to Spangenberg’s mother.

A subpoena was also obtained for a Discord account cited in the tip with the same email address.

Reviewed by Luzerne County investigators, the cybertip contained a pornographic image depicting a minor female.

Through prior investigation, investigators knew that the email address connected to the cybertip belonged to Spangenberg, so they interviewed him at his place of employment on March 31.

Spangenberg was advised by detetctives of the tip they had received regarding his Discord account, and he agreed to speak with investigators.

He told investigators that he hadn’t used his Discord account in months, and denied ever seeing the minor depicted in the pornographic image.

Spangenberg agreed to show investigators the stored images on his phone and in his Google Photos account; as they were going through, a second image depicting a minor female was discovered.

The image was timestamped for the same date as the first image included in the cybertip.

After seizing the phone, Spangenberg consented to a recorded conversation with detectives.

He admitted to creating the Discord account listed in the tip, and to creating the email address listed, as well.

When asked about the lewd photo they had just found, Spangenberg denied taking the photo and denied knowing the minor depicted.

He didn’t remember what website he found the image on, but admitted that he had come across images of child sexual abuse material while searching for pornography before.

On April 25, detectives were able to obtain and examine files from Spangenberg’s email address, and found additional images of child sexual abuse material.

Investigators also found additional images and videos of the victim Spangenberg had already been charged for disseminating nude photos of.

These images and videos had been sent to pornographic websites, and investigators were able to find multiple posts of the victim on the sites. The victim stated to detecitves that she had never given Spangenberg permission to share any of the materials.

Spangenberg was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Matthew Christopher on the new set of charges Friday morning.

These charges include four felony counts of child pornography, six counts of criminal solicitation, five counts of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image and two counts of criminal use of a communications facility.

Bail was set at $200,000; Spangenberg had already been jailed after he was arrested last month on charges related to the distribution of intimate photos of his ex-girlfriend.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 24 in Luzerne County Central Court.