Bobby Cyprus Linhart, 21, Greenfield was taken into custody by the Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force.
Law enforcement officials are asking parents to contact them after a Greenfield man was arrested and charged with multiple child sex crimes in federal court.
Bobby Cyprus Linhart, 21, of Greenfield, is charged with one count of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of distribution of child sexual abuse material, and one count of possession of child sexual abuse material. Linhart had six different victims and is facing seven federal counts in all, according to court documents.
This arrest was made by the Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force earlier this week. The charges were announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Indiana in a news release Thursday.
Officials say that on May 13, 2023, investigators with the Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force received a tip from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children regarding suspected files of child sexual abuse material that had been uploaded to accounts on popular social media sites, Instagram, Snapchat, and X, formerly known as Twitter, by a user called “maps.syb.”
“Maps.syb” was an account allegedly used by Linhart, according to court documents. Linhart was allegedly engaging in sexually explicit conversations with girls who identified themselves to be between the ages of 12 and 15 years old. In addition to having sexually-explicit conversations, Linhart was able to coerce the children to produce and send to him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. He also allegedly arranged to meet minors in person to engage in sexual activity, prosecutors said in the release.
Investigators discovered that Linhart traveled to at least three different cities, one which was out of state, to have sex or attempt to have sex with underage children. In at least one of these instances, they say that Linhart sexually abused a 12-year-old girl. Further, they say that Linhart distributed videos and pictures of children that he had obtained from various victims to another child, according to federal prosecutors.
On March 19, investigators executed a search warrant at Linhart’s home in Greenfield and recovered 40 THC vape pens, marijuana, fentanyl drug test kits, suspected cocaine, LSD, and Xanax, and a Springfield XD 9mm handgun. They also seized devices containing evidence of possession of sexually explicit depictions of children.
Investigators believe Linhart allegedly messaged and abused other children. Officials are asking parents to contact law enforcement at 317-595-3300 or online at p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=945# if they believe their child may have been a victim of “map.syb” or Linhart.
The (Greenfield) Daily Reporter, a sister newspaper of the Daily Journal, contributed to this report.
