SYRACUSE — A Syracuse man was arrested after his wife discovered he had been sexting naked pictures back and forth with a minor female.

Timothy Lynn Pratt

Timothy Lynn Pratt, 32, 203 E. Pearl Street, Syracuse, is being charged with child exploitation, a level 5 felony and child pornography, a level 6 felony.

On March 25, officers with the Syracuse Police Department responded to a report of a suicidal subject. Pratt’s wife advised that she had located child pornography on his cell phone and that he had been threatening to commit suicide. Pratt denied that he was going to commit suicide.

When the wife had discovered the photos on Pratt’s phone she sent them to herself. She then turned over the images to the Syracuse Police Department. Officers reviewed messages and pictures from the phone that were dated March 19.

Pratt and an underaged female had sent multiple nude pictures to each other. Pratt told the minor he wanted to do sexual things to her and requested more photos. At one point, Pratt asked how old the female was. When the female responded with her illegal age, he asked her to send another naked photograph.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Pratt agreed to talk to officers. Pratt admitted that he has a pornography addiction and uses his cell phone to watch porn. Pratt told the officer that once he discovered the age of the female he immediately stopped communicating with her. The officer told Pratt that he knew this was not true and that Pratt didn’t delete the phone application until his wife had confronted him.

Pratt then admitted that he knew it was wrong to continue the conversation and request photographs once he knew she was underage. Throughout the investigation, Pratt was cooperative and allowed officers to search his laptop, phone and computer hard drive. Officers located approximately 30 profiles of females appearing to be underage.

Pratt was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail on March 25 with a $10,250 surety and cash bond.