Amber Decker, Child Sex Exploitation, NY 2023

Amber Decker, 26, of Antwerp, New York, is going away for 22 years after being sentenced to 264 months in federal prison for the sexual exploitation and physical abuse of a two-year-old child. The sentence, handed down today in federal court in Syracuse, marks the culmination of a grotesque case involving conspiracy, digital evidence, and interstate coordination of abuse.

Decker pleaded guilty in June 2019 to all seven counts of a federal indictment, admitting she conspired with her husband, Logan Decker, to produce sexually explicit images and videos of the toddler. Between July and August 2018, while living in Jefferson County, New York, she carried out repeated acts of sexual abuse on the child—acts she recorded and later uploaded to a cloud storage account.

The files were accessed by her husband, Logan Decker, who was located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at the time. The digital trail laid bare a horrifying partnership in predation, with Amber Decker serving as both perpetrator and producer, capturing the abuse for her husband’s viewing. The use of cloud technology turned private horror into a federal crime with far-reaching jurisdiction.

U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd not only imposed the 22-year prison term but also ordered 20 years of supervised release following incarceration. During that time, Amber Decker will be under strict monitoring and required to register as a sex offender for life—a permanent mark for a crime that leaves no statute of limitations on trauma.

Logan Decker, co-conspirator and spouse, has also pleaded guilty to identical charges and is scheduled for sentencing on September 23, 2020. Federal authorities have not ruled out additional charges as the investigation continues into possible networks of distribution or further victims linked to the couple’s actions.

The case was jointly investigated by the FBI’s Syracuse Resident Agency, the New York State Police, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Sioux Falls Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa M. Fletcher, the Northern District of New York’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator. Launched in 2006, Project Safe Childhood targets online child exploitation and strengthens coordination between federal, state, and local agencies to rescue victims and dismantle predator networks.