A Kokomo man was sentenced in federal court Friday to more than 10 years for distributing child pornography over the Internet.
On March 13, 2005, Steven M. Decker, 31, became a target of a federal probe after he distributed computer images of child pornography to undercover agents through an Internet file server he configured and operated, said Susan W. Brooks, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
In May of last year, federal officials with assistance from Kokomo police seized computer equipment from First National Bank & Trust building in downtown Kokomo, where Decker had worked, and from his Kokomo residence, Lt. Donald Whitehead of the Kokomo Police Department said.
The probe was headed by agents of Immigration Customs Enforcement, which is under the direction of Homeland Security.
U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney sentenced Decker to 151 months imprisonment after Decker pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography.
This case resulted from an investigation by the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Indiana State Police, the Kokomo Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, following a lead from the German National Police (BKA).
According to Brooks, Decker distributed the images in an Internet Relay Chat channel used by offenders to distribute images showing the sexual abuse of very young children as well as older children.
Forensic examination of his computer showed that 754 persons visited Decker’s file server and could access his large collection of child pornography. During a search of his Kokomo residence, law enforcement officers recovered 341 image files identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as showing actual known victims of sexual exploitation.
Steven D. DeBrota, an assistant U.S. attorney, and Jill Trumbull-Harris, a Trial Attorney with the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice, prosecuted the case for the government. Judge McKinney also imposed a life term of supervised release following Decker’s imprisonment.
Decker also must register as a sex offender, must seek treatment in a sex offender program, and must not have unsupervised contact with minors. His use of any computer will also be subject to monitoring while he is on supervised release, Brooks added.
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