Source: US FBI
NASHVILLE –A criminal complaint was unsealed today in the Middle District of Tennessee charging U.S. Army Soldier Robert Cecilio, 39, of Clarksville, Tennessee, with child sexual exploitation offenses, announced Robert E. McGuire, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. Cecilio was arrested today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to court documents, from May 1, 2024, to the present, Cecilio has been communicating with at least three minor female victims, using the Snapchat app to get the victims to send him nude photos and videos of themselves. Snapchat records obtained through a search warrant show more than 8,400 contacts, including messages, images and videos, that were exchanged between Cecilio and one of his victims.
Cecilio was detained by Army CID Special Agents and Military Police Officers as he entered Fort Campbell on August 8, 2025. After waiving his Miranda rights, Cecilio stated that he used the Snapchat account that law enforcement had previously searched as well as other Snapchat accounts that include some variation of the name “Gabe” in the account name when communicating with minors. He confessed to having engaged in inappropriate sexual communications with many minor girls for an extended period of time, and that he had received many images and videos of minor females that he understood to be child pornography.
If convicted, Cecilio faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Nashville Field Office, Clarksville Resident Agency and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica R. Morrison is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
A complaint is merely an allegation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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