INDIANAPOLIS — Officials with the Department of Justice say a Greenfield man has been arrested and charged with sex crimes against minors after law enforcement received a tip that something was amiss.
According to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of Indiana, Bobby Cyprus Linhart, 21, 17 block of Village Drive West, has been 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.
According to a 53-page federal affidavit, Linhart had six different victims and is facing seven federal counts in all. Officials with the Department of Justice said the case will be heard in Federal Court in Indianapolis and Linhart will remain in prison until then because the federal system does not have bail.
Officials say that on May 13, 2023, investigators with the Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force (HCMCETF) 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 Twitter) by a user called “maps.syb.”
According to the complaint, “Maps.syb” was an account used by Linhart. 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. Linhart also allegedly arranged to meet minors in person to engage in sexual activity, officials said in the release.
Officials say that they 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.
Just this week, 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 messaged and abused other victims. Officials are asking parents to please contact 317-595-3300 or online at https://www.p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=945# if they believe their child may have been a victim of “map.syb” or Linhart.
Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force (affiliate of the Indiana Crimes Against Children Task Force) and Homeland Security Investigations continue to investigate this case. Should Linhart be convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant United States Attorney Tiffany J. Preston and Meredith Wood, who are prosecuting this case.
This investigation is being conducted by the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a multi-agency task force led by the Indiana State Police that investigates and prosecutes persons who use the internet to sexually exploit or entice children.
Each year, officials note, Indiana ICAC investigators evaluate thousands of tips, investigate hundreds of cases, and rescue dozens of children from ongoing sexual abuse. Visit https://www.in.gov/isp/icactf/ to learn more about their efforts.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
