Bureau of Public Affairs | Indiana Man Convicted of Child Sexual Exploitation

An Indiana man was sentenced today to 17.5 years in prison for possessing and making child sexual abuse images.

According to court documents, Timothy J. Carpenter, 36, of Portage came to the attention of law enforcement around July 2022 after he used peer-to-peer software to knowingly receive and distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM) over the internet via his mobile device.

During the investigation, Indiana State Police (ISP) found Carpenter’s cell phone, which contained hundreds of images and dozens of videos depicting child sexual abuse. During an interview with ISP investigators, Carpenter admitted that he used his phone to access CSAM. Further analysis of Carpenter’s phone revealed that Carpenter had also taken multiple videos of a prepubescent child standing completely nude in a shower. These videos show Carpenter concealing a camera in various locations around the shower to take videos of the child’s genitals and pubic area.

In addition to the prison sentence, Carpenter must register as a sex offender in the city where he lives, works and goes to school, and pay a total of $76,000 in restitution to his victims.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, chief of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson for the Northern District of Indiana; and Special Agent in Charge Sean Fitzgerald of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Division in Chicago made the announcement.

HSI investigated this case with assistance from the ISP, the Lake County Sheriff’s Special Victims Unit, and the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office.

Trial Attorney Eduardo A. Palomo of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Unit (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily A. Morgan for the Northern District of Indiana prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children online, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.