Norfolk predator sentenced to over 18 years in prison for attempting to sexually exploit children

NORFOLK, Va. – A former Navy Petty Officer was sentenced today to 18 years and four months in prison for attempted sexual exploitation of children.

According to court documents, over a period of at least three years, Tucker Lee Martin, 32, engaged in various forms of online child exploitation, including sending sexual messages to minors through social media, requesting sexual images from minors, sending sexual pictures to minors, and possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

As the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigated Martin’s Tumblr account, which he had used to receive CSAM, investigators identified a photo Martin took of himself performing or simulating the performance of a sexual act while seated next to the three-year-old son of his then fiancée. Investigators also found a message from Martin expressing his desire to sexually abuse “a little 8-year-old.”

Martin used his snapchat account to ask an adult to take a sexually explicit picture of her six-year-old niece and send it to him, and then asked if he could touch the niece. On Feb. 20, 2022, Martin used Snapchat to send a sexually explicit photo of himself to a 14-year-old girl and requested that she send him nude images of herself.

In another Snapchat exchange, on Feb. 16, 2022, Martin asked a girl he believed to be 13 years old to send him a sexually explicit photo of herself. Martin expressed his interest in having sex with the girl, but she explained that she lived in another state. Martin then encouraged her to engage in bestiality and provided her with instructions for how to do so.

On Martin’s cellphones, investigators identified a total of 217 CSAM or suspected CSAM files. A search of Martin’s Kik account revealed 172 files containing CSAM or suspected CSAM. Martin also used Kik to communicate to another user that one of his goals included repeatedly raping that user’s five-year-old daughter.

Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Steven DiGiantommaso, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hannah E. Wirt and Nikolas Nelson prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:26-cr-32.