Former Minnesota reserve deputy sentenced in child sex abuse material case

A 29-year-old former reserve deputy for a northern Minnesota county has been sentenced for spreading child sexual abuse material via Snapchat, according to court records. 

Tyler Pettit, from Isle, was charged in 2024 with four counts of disseminating pornographic material involving children 14 and younger. Pettit pleaded guilty to one of the charges in July.

On Thursday, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison, which is a downward departure from sentencing guidelines, with five years of conditional release. He will also need to register as a predatory offender. 

Pettit was a volunteer, non-sworn reserve deputy for Mille Lacs County, and had also worked at a group home where children lived.

According to court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted the sheriff's office in May 2024 that a Snapchat account tied to one of Pettit's email addresses uploaded four videos to another user a month earlier showing boys as young as 8 being abused.

Investigators from both Mille Lacs and Isanti counties also uncovered online messages where Pettit pretended to be a boy and stated his sexual attraction to children, the complaint states.

Back in 2024, Sheriff Kyle Burton announced he had arrested Pettit himself, adding he "felt that it was important that that come from me, that as the sheriff, I'm going to hold you accountable." He also put Pettit on administrative leave and confiscated his reserve deputy equipment.

Burton said "professional photos" of some child residents of the group home where Pettit had once worked were also found on his phone during the investigation. Pettit had passed background checks for both jobs, according to Burton.