Hillsville Man Arrested for Sexual Exploitation of Children

ROANOKE, Va. – Michael Tibbs, 24, of Carroll County, Virginia, was arrested by FBI agents last week on a criminal complaint charging him with sexual exploitation of children. Earlier this week, Tibbs appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge who ordered him detained without bond.

Based on evidence presented at Tibbs’ detention hearing, in April 2023, a then-15-year-old minor victim submitted a tip to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center, reporting that a man had been grooming her for approximately one year and continually requesting nude images.

FBI agents identified Tibbs as the victim’s groomer and obtained records of his Discord messages.  The Discord records revealed that beginning as early as November 2022, Tibbs engaged in sexual chats with several minor girls and paid them to record and send him sexually explicit images and videos. Agents were able to identify and interview some of the minor victims, who confirmed that Tibbs paid them to record sexually explicit content for him.

On July 18, 2024, agents executed a search warrant at Tibbs’ home and seized his phone, which contained many sexually explicit images and videos of women with indeterminate ages. Agents were able to identify one of the minor victims, 13 years old, depicted in two of those videos.  Tibbs’ phone also held hundreds of computer-generated and animated images of children, including toddlers, being graphically, sexually abused.

Agents interviewed Tibbs, who admitted to using Discord to purchase sexual content from minors.  He estimated that he purchased from 10 to 15 underage girls.  Tibbs explained that he developed an interest in purchasing sexual content from minors after viewing child pornography on TikTok.

Acting U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Lee and Stanley M. Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division, made the announcement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Drew Inman is prosecuting the case.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identity and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.