United States Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon
08/26/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/26/2026 16:42
Seaside Postmaster Charged with Distribution & Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material
PORTLAND, Ore.-The Seaside, Oregon, Postmaster has been charged with possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material and production of obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse, announced U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon.
Ryan Sherman, 36, has been charged by criminal complaint and made his initial appearance in federal court today.
According to court documents, Sherman was in possession of dozens of images and videos of child sexual abuse material. In addition to possessing images and videos Sheman produced obscene child sexual abuse images for people he talked to on the internet, taking innocuous photographs of children and using artificial intelligence (AI) to turn them into obscene images. Sherman exchanged child abuse material on SimpleX with other members of a chat group. When asked by an individual seeking obscene images whether he had any limit to the images he would or could create, defendant bragged that he had "none." Sherman occupies a position of trust as the Postmaster for Seaside, Oregon.
On August 25, 2026, Sherman was arrested in Seaside, Oregon.
Sherman made his first appearance in federal court today before a U.S. magistrate judge. He was ordered detained pending further court proceedings.
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.
This case was brought in collaboration with Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
United States Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon published this content on August 26, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on August 26, 2026 at 22:42 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]