Brevard County Man Sentenced To 24 Years For Production Of Child Pornography

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron has sentenced Billy Leon Dyer (78, Melbourne) to 24 years in federal prison for producing child pornography. The Court also ordered him to forfeit his residence located at 7664 Candlewick Drive and a vehicle that he used during the offense. 

Dyer pleaded guilty on September 20, 2017.

According to court documents, between June 22, 2016, and February 9, 2017, Dyer induced at least three teen girls to engage in sexually explicit conduct so that he could produce child pornography. Dyer paid the girls, who were between 14 and 15 years old, $140-$200 each time he had sex with them. Sometimes he gave them drugs in exchange for sex. Agents discovered Dyer’s conduct after he discussed the details of his explicit activity during jail calls that he made to adult inmates at the Brevard County Jail.           

In March 2017, law enforcement officers conducted an undercover operation using an undercover officer posing as an adult woman online. Dyer began a conversation with the “woman” and asked to “meet her soon.” The “woman” said that she was unable to have sex with him, but referred her 15-year-old cousin. Dyer told the “woman” that he would pay her a $40 finder’s fee for referring her “cousin,” and that he would pay her “cousin” $150 to have sex with him. During their conversation, Dyer admitted that he liked young girls and arranged a time to meet the “cousin” for sex. When he arrived at the predetermined location, agents arrested him. On his phone, computer, and thumb drive, agents located more than 170 images depicting the teen girls that Dyer had sex with at his house. 

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Christina R. Downes, on assignment from the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, ICE.

It is another case 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 United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.