ORLANDO, Fla. – The former owner of a traveling baseball club for teens is charged with multiple counts of child pornography, according to Orlando police.
Police arrested Timothy Daniel Shea, 45, on Tuesday, June 22, according to a news release.
The investigation into Shea began in May 2020, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip from Twitter that one IP address had generated 3,000 pages of explicit direct messages, 2,000 tweets with explicit images and one upload of an image depicting the sexual performance of a child, the release states.
Police said they traced the IP address to Shea’s residence in the 3500 block of Fairway Lane in Orlando, which is also the registered address of Shea’s business, Tribe Baseball Club.
According to the club’s website, it began in 2020 following the cancellation of the high school baseball season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shea turned over ownership of the team on Feb. 26, according to Orlando police. That happened after Orlando police executed a search warrant on Shea’s home on Feb. 4, according to an arrest warrant.
Investigators said Shea also solicited personal items from people online, such as used underwear, possibly belonging to women and girls, found in hundreds of individually stored baggies.
Shea faces 10 counts of possession of material depicting sexual performance by a child younger than 10 and unlawful use of two-way communication device.