Ex-Centre County man indicted for child sexual abuse material weeks after child rape charges
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- Tyler W. Fuller indicted for possessing child sexual abuse material.
- Fuller also faces felony rape and assault charges involving a child.
- Judge denied bail; Fuller remains jailed pending August 13 preliminary hearing.
An indictment filed Thursday against a former Centre County man accused him of possessing child sexual abuse material, an allegation that came about two weeks after he was charged with repeatedly raping a child in the State College area.
Tyler W. Fuller, 31, of Somerset County, was accused by a grand jury of possessing images between August 2023 and July 2025 of children under the age of 12 engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
No defense lawyer was listed in Fuller’s federal case. A message left with defense lawyer Laurel F. Grass, who represents him in his Centre County case, was not immediately returned Friday.
Centre County First Assistant District Attorney Josh Andrews told the Centre Daily Times that Fuller will still be prosecuted on felony counts of child rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and unlawful contact with a minor.
A former foster parent, Fuller was accused of raping a child over a two-year period. The child said during a January interview that he raped her for the first time a day before her 13th birthday, State College and Ferguson Township police detectives wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Fuller then told her she could not tell anyone or he would kill himself, the child told police. He also said she would be removed from the Ferguson Township home and put back into the foster care system if she disclosed, police wrote.
The alleged assaults, the detective wrote in the charging document, were carried out from July 2021 until August 2023. The child said she was also raped and forced to perform oral sex in Boalsburg.
After the child refused an alleged August 2023 assault, she said Fuller got upset, retrieved a handgun from his safe, loaded it and again threatened to kill himself. She immediately left the room and was removed from the home by another foster parent, police wrote.
The detective said emails between Fuller and the child included discussions about Fuller buying her an engagement ring, marrying her, trying to avoid “getting caught” and how to deceive child and youth services so they could “reunite.”
District Judge Gregory Koehle denied bail, citing public safety. Fuller is incarcerated at the Centre County Correctional Facility. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 13.