The Herald Citizen in Cookeville reports that Timothy Michael Lynch, a 31-year-old Cookeville man, was arrested and charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor on May 19 following a Cookeville Police Department investigation. He has been released on a $90,000 bond.

The investigation began on March 13 after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided a cybertip about the upload of child sexual abuse material to Instagram. Police traced the IP address used for the upload to Lynch. Search warrant returns from Meta Platforms and Google LLC confirmed that the Instagram account linked to the upload was associated with an email account tied to Lynch.

During a search warrant execution and interview, Lynch admitted to creating the Google and Instagram accounts, possessing the file, and uploading it to Instagram after being shown a sanitized version of the image. His next General Sessions Court appearance is scheduled for May 27.