Muncie Man Sentenced to Seven Years for Distributing Child Pornography

INDIANAPOLIS—Aaron B. Huddleston, 23, Muncie, Indiana, was sentenced to 84 months in prison today by U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Barker following his guilty plea to transporting child pornography. This case was the result of a several-month investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Indianapolis and the FBI in Calverton, Maryland (Innocent Images National Initiative).

Huddleston was charged in February 2009, after he was caught in a proactive investigation conducted by an FBI Agent in Calverton, Maryland. The agent was working on Innocent Images National Initiative which investigates the online exploitation of children. The FBI agent put an undercover profile on the Internet which Huddleston contacted in an attempt to make trades of child pornography. The FBI agent successfully downloaded 17 images and videos September 15, 2008, and 305 images and videos on September 16, 2008. The images and videos all contained images of child pornography, some very sadistic images showing violence committed upon very young children as young as toddlers. A search of Huddleston’s computer found about 49,000 images of nude and partially nude children. The search also discovered that Huddleston also held about 37,000 images in the electronic folders to which he allowed others access for trading purposes.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle L. Helart, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Barker also imposed lifetime years supervised release following Huddleston’s release from prison. During the period of supervised release, Huddleston must register as a sex offender and may not be around any minor child without permission. Huddleston was fined in the amount of $1,000.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.