Feds add charges in Fairchild Sex Exploitation case
By Jean Odom
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation on December 26, 2024, after receiving a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about an individual uploading child sexual abuse material to an electronic service provider account.
During the course of the investigation, Brandon Presley Fairchild, 43, of Medina was identified as the owner of a Google Drive user account that had uploaded 82 files containing apparent child pornography.
A search warrant was executed on March 9th of this year for the electronic service provider account belonging to Fairchild. During the search, TBI Special Agent Derek Miller identified 30 additional photos in the drive that appeared to contain child sexual abuse material. He also found multiple photos of minors that were taken in Gibson County. These photos contained children who were clothed but sexual in nature.
On March 10, 2025, while speaking with TBI Special Agents, Fairchild admitted ownership of the Google account “brandon.p.fairchild@gmail.com” and confessed that the 82 files of CSAM (child sexual abuse material) were “probably files that he previously saved to his phone.”
Fairchild was taken into custody and charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of unlawful photography and was booked into the Gibson County Jail on March 12, 2015. He is being held on a $500,000 bond.
Fairchild was advised of his rights during his arrest but later admitted to having many more additional files beyond those discovered in the search in his digital drive and to taking photos of children in public without consent to do so.
On March 17, 2025, Christie Hopper, Assistant U.S. Attorney located in Jackson, Tennessee, issued a warrant for Fairchild to appear before United State Magistrate Judge Jon A. York. Fairchild now faces federal charges of Sexual Exploitation of a minor and two counts of unlawful photograph.
The court date has been set for March 19, 2025.
