A Franklin man will spend nearly four years in prison after he pleaded guilty to four felony charges that include having a sexual relationship with an underage relative.
Tyler Bartnovsky, 27, 1285 S. U.S. 31, pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with a minor, a Level 4 felony; child solicitation, a Level 5 felony and two counts of possession of child pornography, Level 6 felonies.
Bartnovsky was initially charged with three additional counts of possession of child pornography, but those charges were dropped as part of his plea agreement, according to court documents.
Circuit Court Judge Andrew Roesener accepted a plea agreement that included sentencing agreements for some of the charges. However, Roesener sentenced Bartnovsky to three years in prison for the sexual misconduct with a minor charge and four years of probation, said Joe Villanueva, Johnson County prosecutor.
He received three years of prison and one year of probation for the child solicitation charge, two years of prison for one possession of child pornography charge and 210 days in prison for the second possession charge.
The sentences for the first three counts will run at the same time, and the 210 days for the fourth charge was tacked onto the end of that sentence. He was given 123 days of credit. He must also pay a $1,500 sexual assault victims fee, according to court documents.
Bartnovsky was charged in August after an investigation by multiple local, state and federal agencies. Facebook reported escalating conversations and inappropriate photos and videos being shared between Bartnovsky and the victim, which included at least 27 photos and nine videos.
Several images and videos depicting the girl, who is less than 16 years old, and Bartnovsky exposing their genitalia and engaging in sexual activity were shared between the two using the social media app, court documents said.
Both Bartnovsky and the victim said they had been in a consensual, online relationship for more than a year, and that relationship became physical when the relative visited Franklin from another state, according to court documents.
Facebook reported the activity to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on May 28, according to court documents. The federal agency forwarded the cyber tip to Indiana State Police’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, and the case was assigned to a detective with the Martinsville Police Department.
Police arrested Bartnovsky on Aug. 1 at his Franklin home. Initially, he said he knew the victim and her age, but only because she was a relative. He later admitted to the relationship, according to court documents.
Bartnovsky and the victim engaged in inappropriate activity, including kissing, when she visited Franklin in March, and engaged in sexual activity when she visited again in July, court documents said.
The victim told police she had physical, sexual contact with Bartnovsky.
