Kearney man arrested and sentenced to prison on child pornography charges

LINCOLN, Neb. (KSNB) – The Kearney man arrested after investigators found photos of children in sexually explicit poses on a social media account linked to him will spend eight years in prison.

Tucker Harders, 26, of Kearney, was convicted Thursday in federal court of receiving and possessing child pornography and transporting obscene materials.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip in May 2023 that someone was uploading photos of children engaging in sexually explicit behavior. In January 2023, NCMEC received eight additional tips regarding the same social media account. Investigators traced the IP address to Harder's.

Kearney police executed a search warrant at his home in May 2023 and seized his electronic devices. According to U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr, there were over 10,000 images of exploited children and over 1,000 were confirmed to be child pornography. According to law enforcement, some of the images included children as young as three years old.

During the course of the investigation, police learned that Harder participated in several chats in which he asked about, shared, and offered to trade child pornography with others.

There is no parole in the federal system. When Harders is released from prison, he will be on supervised release for eight years and must register as a sex offender.

This case was filed as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The case was investigated by the Kearney Police Department.

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