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FROM STAFF REPORTS
Michael Logan Schultz, a 22-year-old resident of Elizabethton, was arrested Thursday following his confession to possessing child sexual abuse material during a police investigation prompted by an online tip.
Deputies apprehended Schultz on Thursday and charged him with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, according to authorities.
The inquiry leading to Schultz’s arrest commenced when the Carter County Sheriff’s Office received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concerning suspicious activity on a social media platform. The tip highlighted two videos and seven images depicting child sexual abuse material and furnished an IP address, which authorities traced back to a residence in Carter County. The social media platform provided the username and email address associated with the registered user of the account. Another cyber tip supplied two additional emails associated with the same IP address, which contained child sexual abuse material. The second tip included the name and date of birth of the registered account holder. Subsequently, investigators secured a search warrant for the address linked to the cyber tips and IP address.
On Thursday, investigators, along with deputies, executed the search warrant at a residence on West G Street in Elizabethton, with the support of agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Agent for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. During the execution of the search warrant, investigators encountered Schultz and conducted an interview.
Schultz confessed during the interview to downloading and possessing child sexual abuse material during the period specified in the cyber tips received by the CCSO.
Investigators placed Schultz under arrest, and he was transported to the Carter County Detention Center, where he was booked on a charge of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor. He is currently detained under a $50,000 bond.
Sheriff Mike Fraley commended the diligent efforts of his investigators in tracing the trail back to its origin. “We will continue to pursue and prosecute those who traffic in child pornography to help make the children of our community safer,” Sheriff Fraley stated.