Palmetto 73-year-old sentenced to prison on child sexual abuse charges, prosecutors say
A judge sentenced a 73-year-old Palmetto man to prison for possession of child sexual abuse materials.
A Manatee County judge sentenced Bruce Herbert Hayes to 15 years in prison with credit for time served after Hayes pleaded no contest to 27 counts of possessing child sexual abuse materials, according to court records.
Hayes’ attorney did not immediately respond to the Bradenton Herald’s request for comment.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Hayes in July 2023 after detectives said they found at least 27 images and videos of child sexual abuse on Hayes’ electronic devices.
In August 2022, the sheriff’s office said they received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about the distribution of possible child sexual abuse material. According to the report, someone using Bing Images uploaded a file that detectives confirmed as child sexual abuse material using “live pictures of real human beings.”
The sheriff’s office subpoenaed the internet provider to determine the IP address belonged to Hayes, according to an arrest record. The sheriff’s office said the subpoena also turned up a Palmetto address connected to the account.
When detectives arrived at Hayes’ house, they said they asked for consent to look at his electronic devices. Hayes agreed and told them he used a cell phone, tablet and desktop computer, according to an arrest report.
During the investigation that followed, detectives said they found a text document on Hayes’ computer that discussed child sexual abuse material. Based on that evidence, the sheriff’s office found probable cause for a search warrant to do electronic forensics on all of Hayes’ devices.
When detectives executed the search warrant in October 2022, they seized a desktop computer, two Samsung tablets and a case of DVDs, according to an arrest report.
Detectives said they found 61 unique images and videos that depicted child sexual abuse on the desktop computer and evidence of another 1,400 images of similar material in the computer’s history. Investigators say they also found over 50 images and videos on the CDs.
Detectives wrote in an affidavit that the videos and images depicted young girls and boys anywhere from 4 to 13 years old.
