Noblesville man sentenced for distribution of child pornography

Indianapolis – Josh J. Minkler, United States Attorney, announced today that Randolph Felton, 36, Noblesville, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by U.S. District Chief Judge Richard L. Young following his guilty plea to distribution of child pornography.  This is Felton’s second conviction related to child pornography.  In January 2013, Felton was convicted in Hamilton County, Indiana of possessing child pornography.

“The heinous crime that this pedophile committed is something his victims will have to deal with for the rest of their lives,” said Minkler.  “Mr. Felton must pay for that with fifteen years of his life. This office will never stop our fight to hold those who exploit children accountable by sending them to federal prison.”

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received information from a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that images of child pornography had been uploaded to an internet email account.  Based on this tip and other information, a federal search warrant was obtained for the account, which was traced to computer and mobile devices used by Felton, a registered sex offender.  HSI agents confirmed that the account contained dozens of video and image files depicting minor children engaging in sexually explicit conduct. 

Upon further investigation, agents found that Felton had been emailing these images and videos to other individuals using the email account.  Agents ultimately determined that Felton had been receiving and distributing child pornography through that account from September 2012 until his arrest in June 2014.

This case was investigated jointly by HSI and the Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force.  

“Child pornography is the permanent record of the sexual exploitation of a child, and the victimization continues in perpetuity with every transmission or view of that image,” said Gary Hartwig, Special Agent in charge of HSI Chicago.  “HSI will continue to seek justice for the innocent children who have been victimized and exploited for the sexual gratification of their abusers.”

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney’s MaryAnn T. Mindrum and Nicholas J. Linder, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Young imposed 10 years of supervised release following Felton’s prison term.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resource.”