FRANKLIN, Ind. – A Whiteland man convicted of child porn and child exploitation charges will spend the next three years in prison, followed by an additional two years of home detention.
Prosecutors say Anthony Lewis, 23, admitted to downloading and sharing pornographic images of children through Facebook, Skype and Dropbox.
Indiana State Police say they were contacted by The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child porn images that had been traced to Lewis in Whiteland. After conducting their own investigation, State Police searched Lewis’s home and found images on an electronic device that he owned.
Johnson County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Villanueva says some of the 126 images in Lewis’s possession showed adults raping toddlers.
“I don’t know that we can ever find out who [the child victims] are. We have no idea where or when any of these videos or still photos originated. They could have been made overseas somewhere,” says Villanueva, who adds that prosecuting the case is difficult because of the mental and emotional toll it takes as a prosecuting attorney.
“You can’t unsee the images that I saw when reviewing this case. I have young children who [were] toddlers at one point like some of the children who were depicted in these videos and still photos and I can’t imagine, as a parent, that happening to a child,” says Villanueva.
In addition to five years of prison and home detention, Lewis will also serve an additional four years of probation and be required to register as a sex offender.
Photo provided by the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office
