Ryan Watkins, Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material, Indiana 2023

A Martin County sex offender has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for possession of sexually explicit material involving minors.

Ryan Watkins, 47, of Loogootee, Indiana, pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard L. Young.

According to court documents, Watkins viewed and downloaded images of child sexual abuse material to his cell phone linked to an internet cloud-based data storage platform on multiple occasions between January and April 2023.

Investigators examined the files and found more than 600 images depicting minors under 12 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Additional images were located in a Google Chrome cache folder and download folders on Watkins' cellphone.

Watkins was previously convicted of felony Child Molestation in Daviess County, Indiana in May 2010 and was a registered sex offender at the time of the offense.

U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers stated, 'This previously convicted child molester chose to continue seeking gratification from the sexual abuse of children... He didn't care about the trauma that was inflicted on these victims, so long as he could enjoy this heinous material.'

The U.S. Secret Service and Indiana State Police investigated this case. Watkins is also required to pay $6,000 in restitution and will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years following his release.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/martin-county-sex-offender-sentenced-decade-federal-prison-after-investigators-locate