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Press Release

Richmond Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for After Investigators Discover His Collection of Nearly One Million Child Sexual Abuse Images

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS- David Julien, 65, of Richmond, Indiana, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to receipt of child sexual abuse material.

According to court documents, on the night of January 2, 2022, the defendant, David Julien, was making French fries in his kitchen. He left the kitchen to eat them, forgetting the hot grease on the stove and starting a fire in his kitchen. The Richmond Fire Department (RFD) responded, extinguished the fire, and began an investigation into its cause.

While inside, a Deputy Fire Chief found notebooks on a dresser that contained pictures of child sexual abuse. Officers with the Richmond Police Department spoke to Julien, who admitted that “there will be thousands and thousands and thousands more of those photos.”

Julien consented to a search of his house. During the search, officers located eight colored binders that had printed photographs of child sexual abuse material.

Officers also found a computer with approximately 10 external hard drives and 2 internal hard drives. Located near the computer were an additional 5 hard drives that contained well over 100,000 child sex abuse material images and over 3,000 videos, including those of bondage and bestiality. One hard drive had approximately 722,000 CSAM images and 29,000 CSAM videos. The child sexual abuse materials Julien collected and repeatedly viewed dated back to at least 2017. Julien’s collection of child sexual abuse images and videos included depictions of children being subjected to sadomasochistic sexual abuse and bestiality, as well as depictions of the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers.

United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Zachary A. Myers, Jeffrey R. Adams, Special Agent in Charge of the USSS Indianapolis Field Office, Chief Michael Britt of the Richmond Police Department, Tim Brown, Interim Fire Chief of the Richmond Fire Department made the announcement.

“For years this defendant collected over a million depictions of children being subjected to horrific sexual abuses—including rapes of babies and toddlers,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Zachary A. Myers. “He didn’t care about the trauma that was inflicted and perpetuated, so long as he could enjoy the heinous material he craved. Thanks to the Richmond Fire and Police Departments, the U.S. Secret Service, and our federal prosecutors, our children are safer, and this pedophile is behind bars where he belongs.”

The U.S. Secret Service investigated this case with valuable assistance provided by the Richmond Police and Fire Departments. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge, Jane Magnus-Stinson. Judge Stinson also ordered that Julien be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 5 years following his release from federal prison and register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, and goes to school.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant United States Attorney Adam J. Eakman, who prosecuted this case.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc

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Updated August 18, 2023

Topic
Project Safe Childhood