The Lebanon Reporter
INDIANAPOLIS 鈥� A former Zionsville firefighter was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for collecting and distributing material depicting child sexual abuse.
Daniel Stevens, 48, of Whitestown, was an engineer and paramedic for the department and also worked at an Indianapolis hospital when he was charged in May 2021.
Unbeknownst to his employers and without their consent, Stevens used their internet connections to distribute numerous images and videos depicting child sex abuse material to others over social media, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation statement Wednesday.
Stevens also used his tablet to store thousands of images and videos depicting prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Some of the children depicted in the images and videos were infants, babies, and toddlers. Stevens also viewed and saved material that depicted sadomasochistic sexual abuse of children, the statement said.
Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, and Herbert J. Stapleton, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation鈥檚 Indianapolis Field Office, made the announcement.
The FBI鈥檚 Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson. As part of the sentence, Stinson ordered that Stevens be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 10 years following his release from federal prison and ordered him to pay $12,000 in restitution to each of the minor victims depicted in the images and videos he distributed and possessed. Stevens must also register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school, as required by law.
In the fiscal year 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, the Southern District of Indiana was second out of the 94 federal districts in the country for the number of child sexual exploitation cases prosecuted.
The tip from Twitter was made by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at the time. It was given to ICAC and assigned to now Lebanon Police Chief Amy Dickerson. Other agencies involved in the search include the Whitestown Police Department, the Boone County Sheriff鈥檚 Office and the Zionsville Police Department.
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鈥� 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, visit the website at .
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