PORTLAND, Ore. — The Seaside postmaster has been charged in federal court with possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material and producing obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Ryan Sherman, 36, was arrested Aug. 25 in Seaside and charged by criminal complaint. He made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday before a U.S. magistrate judge and was ordered detained pending further proceedings.
According to court documents, investigators allege Sherman possessed dozens of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse.
Prosecutors also allege Sherman created obscene images involving children for people he communicated with online. Investigators say he took otherwise innocuous photographs of children and used artificial intelligence to alter them into obscene images.
Court documents further allege Sherman exchanged child sexual abuse material with other members of an online chat group using SimpleX. Prosecutors say that when someone seeking obscene images asked Sherman whether there were limits to what he would create, he responded that he had “none.”
Authorities said Sherman held a position of public trust as the postmaster for Seaside.
The FBI and Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case with assistance from the Seaside Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha Geiling is prosecuting the case.
The prosecution is being brought in collaboration with Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The program coordinates federal, state and local resources to investigate and prosecute offenders and help identify and rescue victims.
A criminal complaint is an accusation and does not constitute proof of guilt. Sherman is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
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