TYLER, Texas (KETK) – U.S Attorney Brit Featherston announced that a Tyler man was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for child exploitation violations on Thursday.

On March 28, 2022, Daniel Dylan Skipworth, 20, pleaded guilty to transporting a 13-year-old girl from Alabama to engage in sexual activity at his home in Tyler. U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker sentenced Skipworth to 216 months in federal prison for the charge on Thursday, Feb. 16.

Officials said that Skipworth’s conviction was the result of cooperation between the FBI, Tyler Police Department and Smith County Sheriff’s Office.

“Every parent’s nightmare,” U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston said in a statement. “Skipworth’s evil actions should cause all of us to shudder. There are human predators willing to harm children and guardians should always know what their children are doing on-line to prevent these encounters. Great work by the Tyler Police Department, the Smith County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI stopped this terrible crime.”

According to Featherston’s statement, GPS data from the child’s phone was analyzed as a part of official’s investigation. The case is a part of Project Safe Childhood, a program launched by the Department of Justice in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, according to officials.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Tyler Resident Agency, Tyler Police Department and Smith County District Attorney’s Office investigated this case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lucas Machicek prosecuted it.