Source: United States Department of Justice News
EVANSVILLE – Chris Lynn Carder II, 36, of Evansville, Indiana, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to distribution of child sexual abuse material.
According to court documents, in July of 2019, an FBI agent working in Salt Lake City, Utah, was conducting an undercover investigation online using the social networking application Kik. On July 18, 2019, the agent was contacted by the Kik user “clcarder” and they began communicating. During their communications, clcarder expressed an interest in sex with children and sent two videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct to the agent.
The individual using the username clcarder was later identified by law enforcement to be Carder. A search warrant was executed at Carder’s residence in Evansville on March 12, 2020. Following the search, Carter admitted to FBI agents that he created the Kik account and that he used the username clcarder to send materials depicting the sexual abuse of children. Pursuant to the search warrant, investigators were able to access the data stored on Carder’s two cellular telephones and they found child sexual abuse materials on his electronic devices. The images and videos distributed and possessed by Carder included depictions of the sexual abuse of children under twelve years old and some involved sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.
Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, and Herbert J. Stapleton, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office, made the announcement.
FBI investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young. As part of the sentence, Judge Young ordered that Carder be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for eight years following his release from federal prison and ordered Carder to pay $6,000 in restitution to the child exploitation victims. Carder must also register as sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school, as required by law.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger who prosecuted this case.
In 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.
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’ 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, please visit www.justice.gov/psc