WASHINGTON—An Indiana man was sentenced today to 35 years in prison for producing child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler of the Southern District of Indiana.

Todd Chambers, 28, of Batesville, Indiana, pleaded guilty to nine counts of production of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the Southern District of Indiana presided over the change of plea hearing and sentencing.

In connection with his guilty plea, Chambers admitted that he produced and distributed via the Internet a series of images of child exploitation. Metadata in the images showed that Chambers produced them over the course of three months. In addition to these images, Chambers possessed thousands of other images of child exploitation on his digital camera, laptop computer, cell phone and other electronic devices.

The FBI and the Indiana State Police investigated the case, with assistance from the Batesville Police Department. Trial Attorney Leslie Williams Fisher of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve DeBrota of the Southern District of Indiana prosecuted the case.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.justice.gov/psc.