NORFOLK, VA. — Former Navy Petty Officer Tucker Lee Martin was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison on September 17, 2026, in Norfolk, Virginia. The sentence followed his guilty plea to attempted sexual exploitation of children involving multiple minors and hundreds of child sexual abuse material files.

Martin sent sexual messages to minors through social media, requested sexual images from minors, sent sexual pictures to minors, and possessed and distributed child sexual abuse material (CSAM). According to court documents, Martin engaged in online child exploitation for a period of at least three years.

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 a sexual act while seated next to the three-year-old son of his then fiancée. A search of Martin’s Kik account revealed 172 files containing CSAM or suspected CSAM. Investigators identified a total of 217 CSAM or suspected CSAM files on Martin’s cellphones.

Investigators found a message from Martin expressing his desire to sexually abuse an 8-year-old child. Martin used Kik to communicate to another user that one of his goals included repeatedly raping that user’s five-year-old daughter. 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. He also asked if he could touch the six-year-old niece.

U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis presided over the sentencing. Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hannah E. Wirt and Nikolas Nelson prosecuted the case. Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Steven DiGiantommaso, Special Agent in Charge of the NCIS Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Tucker Lee Martin is 32 years old and resides in Norfolk, Virginia.

Why It Matters

The sentencing concludes a federal prosecution under Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice program established to address child sexual exploitation. The case involved the identification of hundreds of illegal files and direct communication with minors across multiple digital platforms, including Snapchat, Kik, and Tumblr.

Law enforcement officials from the U.S. Attorney's Office and NCIS announced the outcome of the investigation into Martin's online activities. The conviction addresses both the possession of abusive material and active attempts to exploit children through social media channels.

Timeline

On Feb. 16, 2022, Martin asked a girl he believed to be 13 years old to send him a sexually explicit photo of herself. On the same date, Martin encouraged the girl he believed to be 13 to engage in bestiality and provided her with instructions for how to do so.

Also on Feb. 16, 2022, Martin expressed his interest in having sex with the girl he believed to be 13, but she explained that she lived in another state. 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.