Portage Police Arrest Indianapolis Man on Child Abuse, Other Crimes

An Indianapolis man has been arrested after he made sexually explicit communications with a 12-year-old Portage girl via the Snapchat app, police said in a news release.

Daniel Roberts, 31, has been charged with three counts of indirect sexual gratification, a Level 4 felony; eight counts of child luring, a Level 5 felony; and four counts of possession of child pornography, a Level 6 felony, according to a news release from the Portage Police Department.

This relationship came to light after the child spoke to a school counselor and her phone was turned over to police by a parent for investigation.

“It was clear from conversations with the victim that Mr. Roberts knew the individual he was speaking to was a child and he encouraged her to perform sexual acts and provide him with pornographic images,” police said in the release.

Custody letters were sent to Snapchat, which cooperated with the investigation, and provided identifying information for the account holder, leading investigators to a home in the 8300 block of Goldfinch Circle in Indianapolis. In addition to the arrest warrant for Roberts, police also obtained a search warrant for the home.

On September 3, Portage Police Department detectives, along with officers from the Fishers Police Department and members of the Indiana Cybercrimes Against Children Task Force, went to a home under the jurisdiction of the Fishers Police Department to execute the warrants.

Roberts was found outside and fled on foot from officers. He was pursued and arrested after officers used a stun gun, police said.

Portage Police Detectives located several electronic storage devices in the residence that may contain additional evidence of crimes against children.

Police took Roberts to the Porter County Jail, where he is being held on $70,000 bail. Roberts is wanted in Jefferson County, Colorado, for violating his probation on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and attempted sexual assault of a child, police said.

Roberts had an initial hearing Thursday before Porter Superior Court Judge Michael Fish, where he was assigned a public defender and entered preliminary pleas of not guilty, according to an online court record.