In a significant ruling that underscores the severity of cybersex crimes, Casey Lee Smith, a 48-year-old registered sex offender from Evansville, has been handed a 17.5-year federal prison sentence following his guilty plea on two counts of distribution of sexually explicit material involving minors, as per a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana.
The grim details of the case, stemming from a January 2022 CyberTip by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, revealed that Smith had uploaded 16 files containing child sexual abuse material to the messaging app Kik, materials that depicted prepubescent minors and sadistic acts; the investigation by the authorities brought to light 95 images and videos on Smith's cellphone indicative of similar, disturbing content. Moreover, officials found that Smith had failed to register Kik as one of his social media accounts—a contention with his obligations as a sex offender, registered since 2003 for charges including Child Exploitation and Possession of Child Pornography.
U.S. Attorney Tom Wheeler, speaking about Smith's use of Kik to distribute the abuse, emphatically stated, "This dangerous criminal used Kik to share the horrific abuse of the most vulnerable victims," the Southern District of Indiana's U.S. Attorney's Office published. Wheeler hailed the combined efforts of the FBI and the Evansville Police Department, which culminated in the sentencing and ensured Smith's incapacitation from harming children any further.
FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. O’Malley was equally unyielding in his remarks about the gravity of the case and law enforcement's commitment to pursuing such criminals: "The exploitation of children is among the most heinous crimes we investigate. Every file this defendant shared represented the ongoing abuse of a real child," he said. The investigation was spearheaded jointly by the FBI and the Evansville Police Department, with the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young. The Southern District of Indiana’s U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger prosecuted the case.
