MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. — A 23-year-old Creola man is in the Mobile Metro Jail on 10 child pornography charges after an investigation that began with a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office says his arrest is part of a troubling trend: more online child exploitation cases, and suspects who are getting younger.
Landein Collin Hearn was arrested Thursday, Sept. 24, and charged with five counts of unlawful possession of child pornography and five counts of dissemination of child pornography. His arrest was the 26th made this year by the sheriff’s Internet Crimes Against Children, or ICAC, Unit.
Hearn is considered innocent until proven guilty.
How the investigation began
According to the sheriff’s office, the investigation began in August 2026 after MCSO investigators received information from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, known as NCMEC, about suspected child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, that had allegedly been uploaded to Snapchat.
Investigators identified Hearn as a suspect and obtained a search warrant for his home in Creola. On the morning of Sept. 24, members of the MCSO ICAC Unit and Special Operations Unit, assisted by the MCSO Crime Scene Unit, executed the warrant. Hearn was taken into custody and booked into the Mobile Metro Jail.
Sheriff Paul Burch said the images Hearn is accused of sending on Snapchat allegedly depicted children who were all under the age of 9.
“They developed enough probable cause to get a warrant and make an arrest based on the tips and their investigation,” Burch said. “Once they seize any electronics, a lot of the time, there are additional charges that come forth.”
The sheriff’s office said the investigation remains ongoing.
“Those who use the internet to exploit children should understand that they are not anonymous and they are not beyond the reach of law enforcement,” Burch said in a statement announcing the arrest. “Our ICAC investigators work every day with our local, state and federal partners to identify these offenders and protect children from online exploitation.”
A record pace for the ICAC Unit
Burch said Hearn’s arrest reflects a larger pattern his investigators are seeing. Deputies made 26 child pornography arrests in the first nine months of 2026. Those 26 suspects face a combined 130 felony charges.
The sheriff’s office has tracked the unit’s arrests since it was created in February 2023. According to figures released by the office:
- 2023: 18 suspects arrested on 115 felony charges
- 2024: 30 suspects arrested on 165 felony charges
- 2025: 32 suspects arrested on 187 felony charges
- 2026 (through late September): 26 suspects arrested on 130 felony charges
With more than three months left in the year, the unit is on a pace that could approach or exceed its previous annual totals.
Suspects are getting younger, sheriff says
One of the most striking trends, according to investigators, is the age of the people being arrested. More than half of the 26 suspects arrested so far in 2026 are in their early 20s.
“The ones that I’m aware of, at least, aren’t employed. They’re sitting at home with nothing to do and decide to engage in this kind of behavior,” Burch said.
Burch said he believes the rise in cases likely stems in part from children going online at an early age, and he said the material investigators encounter clearly involves young children.
“Images that these individuals seem to seek out are clearly children. Not 17, 18, 19 years old,” Burch said. “Most of them seem to like young children.”
The sheriff did not hide his feelings about the offenders his unit pursues.
“There’s a special place in hell for them when the time comes,” Burch said. “My personal opinion, what should happen to them would be illegal.”
One of 61 task forces nationwide
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office ICAC Unit is part of the national Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program, a network of 61 task forces across the country. The unit works with federal, state and local agencies and uses digital forensics and undercover operations to identify and arrest people who exploit children online.
Many cases, including Hearn’s, begin with reports routed through NCMEC’s CyberTipline. Technology companies and members of the public report suspected child sexual exploitation to NCMEC, which reviews the reports and forwards them to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Local ICAC investigators then follow up, seeking subpoenas and search warrants to identify suspects and seize devices.
As Burch noted, the initial charges in these cases are not always the final ones. Forensic examinations of seized phones, computers and storage devices can take time, and the evidence they reveal sometimes leads to additional charges.
What parents and caregivers can do
Law enforcement officials and child safety advocates regularly encourage families to take an active role in children’s online lives. Common recommendations include:
- Talk early and often. Have age-appropriate conversations with children about who they talk to online, what they share and what to do if someone makes them uncomfortable.
- Know the apps. Learn how the social media, messaging and gaming apps your children use work, including their privacy settings and disappearing-message features.
- Use parental controls. Many devices and apps include tools that limit who can contact a child and what content they can see.
- Keep devices in shared spaces. Especially for younger children, keeping phones, tablets and computers in common areas of the home makes online activity more visible.
- Report it. Suspected online exploitation of a child can be reported to NCMEC’s CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org or 1-800-843-5678, or to local law enforcement.
Anyone with information about the online exploitation of children in Mobile County can contact the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.
What happens next
Hearn remains in custody at the Mobile Metro Jail. His case will proceed through the Mobile County court system, where he will have an opportunity to respond to the charges. Additional charges are possible as investigators examine electronic devices seized during the search, the sheriff said.
As with every criminal case, the charges are accusations, and Hearn is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court.