Benjamin David Thomas, Child Exploitation, Indiana 2023

Evansville Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Child Exploitation

On June 9, 2023, Benjamin David Thomas, a 58-year-old man from Evansville, Indiana, was sentenced to 120 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young for accessing and intending to view sexually-explicit material involving minors.

According to prosecutors, Thomas accessed images depicting actual minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct using his home computer. Forensic analysis revealed that the computer had been used to browse various web sites that displayed images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Thomas, a registered sex offender with a 1997 conviction for child molestation, was arrested and subsequently admitted to law enforcement that he had viewed the images. He also consented to the forfeiture of computer equipment used in the offenses he committed.

The case was brought as part of Operation Community Watch, a comprehensive crackdown on child exploitation in Indiana led by U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett. The initiative aims to use cutting-edge techniques to identify and charge individuals who engage in the receipt and trafficking of child pornography materials.

As part of his sentence, Thomas will also serve a lifetime term of federally-supervised release, during which he must register as a sex offender, participate in a sex offender treatment program, and cannot have any unsupervised contact with minors.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana has prosecuted 65 cases under Project Safe Childhood in the last reporting year, a dramatic increase over prior years.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/evansville-man-sentenced-ten-years-prison-part-operation-community-watch