The Bachelorette alum Joshua Tylerbest is currently behind bars after he was sentenced to four years in prison for willful child abuse in September 2024, In Touch can exclusively reveal.
The reality star, 29, took a plea agreement and received his sentence in Miami-Dade County, Florida, on September 26, 2024, according to online records viewed by In Touch.
Tylerbest entered the Sago Palm Re-Entry Center in Pahokee, Florida, on October 23, 2024, and is currently slated to be released on August 8, 2028.
The former ABC personality was arrested on multiple child pornography charges in February 2023. A Google account registered to Tylerbest had allegedly uploaded 50 pictures and videos showing child sexual abuse, according to court documents obtained by TMZ at the time. Police obtained a search warrant for the account and claimed to have found evidence of the IT consultant “interacting with the child pornography images,” the outlet reported.
After a search of Tylerbest’s residence stemming from an investigation into his conduct in 2022, law enforcement seized multiple electronic items, including an iPhone, which allegedly contained 15 files of child porn.
Tylerbest was charged with 15 felony counts of possession of materials showing a sexual performance by a child. He pleaded not guilty in March 2023 and was released on a $5,000 bond.
The Florida native made his reality TV debut on The Bachelorette season 17, starring Katie Thurston, in 2021. He was eliminated in week 4.
“Josh loves hard and says there is really no other way to put it. He is humble, kind-hearted and goofy, but he’s also a hopeless romantic who has always been very in touch with his emotions,” his bio from ABC read at the time. “Josh is looking for a woman that is kind, open-minded, ambitious and adventurous. He consistently strives to be genuine and wants to find a partner who will do the same.”
The bio continued, “Josh is extremely family-oriented, and finding someone he can bring home to hang with his amazing family for a night of barbeque and playing cards is his dream come true. He plans to show his future wife and kids the same unconditional love he was surrounded by growing up, and really, who could ask for anything more?”
Thurston, 34, ultimately got engaged to Blake Moynes during the August 2021 finale, but the pair later announced their split in October 2021. The following month, she moved on with John Hersey, a contestant who was eliminated during week 2, but they called it quits less than one year later.
“He dumped me,” Thurston said of Hersey, 31, on the “Off the Vine” podcast in August 2022. “Technically, we actually broke up twice. The first time no one knew about. I mean, obviously, our very close friends did. And maybe like a week or two, we kind of worked through it and decided to get back together, so I thought we were golden. … I think it was just unavoidable. We just got on a conversation and at one point, I just said to him, ‘I know more reasons why you don’t like me than why you love me.’ And that’s a really s–tty feeling.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
