Indiana man sentenced to 18 years in prison for child pornography violations

VINCENNES, Ind. — A local man was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison following his guilty plea to possessing and distributing child pornography. This lengthy sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Indiana State Police.

Jonathan D. Martin, 29, of Vincennes, Ind., was sentenced March 1 to 216 months in prison after pleading guilty to the following child pornography charges: one count of possessing sexually explicit material involving minors, 12 counts of receiving and distributing sexually explicit material involving minors, and two counts of posting a notice offering to trade sexually explicit material involving minors.

At a hearing held on Nov. 22 Martin admitted to downloading and managing thousands of images of child pornography. He also admitted to receiving and distributing the sexually explicit material, including still images and videos, using computers, e-mail transmissions, and Internet-based file-sharing programs.

Martin also admitted that he had posted notices offering to trade child pornography on a website. An examination of Martin's computer revealed that he had used file-sharing programs to search for and download child pornography and to post notices offering to trade child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson, Southern District of Indiana, also imposed a lifetime supervision following Martin's release from prison. During the period of supervised release, Martin must comply with all sex offender registration laws, must not have unsupervised contact with minors, and must submit to examination of any computer devices he uses. Martin was also ordered to forfeit the computer equipment he used to commit the offense.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger, Southern District of Indiana, prosecuted this case.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.