INDIANAPOLIS — A man and woman from Indianapolis were each sentenced to 45 years in prison for sexually exploiting a child, producing child pornography with the victim, and distributing and receiving child pornography.
Bennie W. Schuck II, 46, and Amber Talley, 36, were “both in a position of trust” with the victim, a girl under the age of 12. Both Schuck and Talley sexually abused the victim, who said the abuse had been going on for at least a year.
Schuck and Talley took photos of the abuse, which they sent to each other. Schuck also sent the sexually explicit images of the young girl to a woman through Kik Messenger, which led to the detection of Schuck and Talley’s crimes.
An investigation into Schuck and Talley began in April 2019, when police in Louisiana investigated the internet activities of a man who was accused of receiving child pornography online. This man allegedly traded the images with Indiana resident Diana Roe, who was arrested and charged federally in May 2019.
When police investigated the photos and chats found on Roe’s phone and other electronic devices, they found evidence showing that Schuck was sexually abusing and exploiting a child. Using social media and public records, police identified Talley as the other person involved in abusing the girl.
The Indiana Crimes Against Children Task Force got a search warrant in Aug. 2019. Court papers say both Schuck and Talley admitted to sexually abusing the girl. Both of them admitted to creating images of the acts and Schuck admitted to distributing the images online.
Four other defendants who were also indicted and or charged in this case have already pleaded guilty.
- Diana Roe, 50 – sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, must spend the remainder of her life on supervised release after her imprisonment, and pay $31,000 in restitution.
- Joshua Mead, 40 – sentenced to 9 years imprisonment, 10 years supervised release after his imprisonment, and pay $44,000 in restitution.
- Joshua Hart, 26 – sentenced to 6 years imprisonment, 15 years supervised release after his imprisonment
- Quinton Byassee, 35 – sentenced to 11 years imprisonment, 20 years supervised release after imprisonment, and pay $3000.00 in restitution.
“Those who sexually exploit children cause an extreme amount of harm and pain to their victims,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John E. Childress. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners so that predators like these individuals will never have an opportunity to victimize again.”
“The actions of these defendants were beyond heinous and what they subjected this young victim to will likely have untold ramifications for years – no child should ever have to go through something like this by those in a position of trust,” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Paul Keenan. “The sentence they received will ensure they can never again subject another child to sexual abuse and exploitation.”
