Man who sought babysitting jobs sent to prison for having child pornography
Mar. 15—A man who sought babysitting jobs online was sentenced to 100 months in prison Monday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati for possession of child pornography.
Ryan J. McConnell, 31, of Cincinnati, is currently housed in the Butler County Jail. He was arrested by federal agents in December 2020.
According to court documents, FBI agents in Texas, acting in an undercover capacity on Kik messenger discovered McConnell through a group called "Toddlers." Members within this group distributed hundreds of videos and images of child rape, according to federal prosecutors.
McConnell's phone contained child pornography depicting pre-pubescent and pubescent boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct while wearing diapers. It also included a fake background check for McConnell, according to court documents.
McConnell actively sought work as a babysitter from approximately 2010 until 2020 on a number of websites. He was registered for three SitterCity accounts and had created at least 20 Craigslist ads offering childcare and/or babysitting services as recently as late October 2020. He was accepting babysitting jobs as "Bryan S."
A husband and father, McConnell is a University of Cincinnati graduate who worked as a business consultant but sought babysitting jobs on the side, according to court documents. In his colleges days, McConnell was first investigated for alleged sexual misconduct while babysitting a 5-year-old in Loveland in 2012.
The Loveland investigation did not result in an indictment against McConnell, but did hamper his ability to babysit children and he turned to websites, according to court records.
"McConnell got break when he avoided indictment for a serious sex offense against a child he babysit. Rather than learn from his brush with the law, McConnell merely got more careful about how he babysat. He started using fake names, background checks and phone numbers. Indeed, it appears his own spouse was not even aware he was still soliciting babysitting side jobs after the birth of their child," Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Healey wrote in the sentencing memorandum.
In addition to the prison, McConnell was sentenced to 10 years supervised release after serving the sentence.
