Boone County investigators say a February CyberTip about suspected child exploitation ended with the arrest of a Whitestown man and a house full of seized electronics. Deputies and local officers took 46-year-old Joseph Boots into custody last Thursday after serving a search warrant at his home, where they confiscated a large number of digital devices from the residence and from Boots himself. Preliminary checks turned up suspected child sexual abuse material on at least some of those devices, and Boots is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond while specialists work through full forensic reviews.
According to a Facebook post from the Lebanon Police Department, the investigation began when the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children submitted a CyberTip in February flagging AI-created child sexual abuse material. The post explains that the Boone County CASE Task Force - a multi-agency team that includes staff from the Boone County Prosecutor’s Office, Boone County Sheriff’s Office and the Lebanon, Whitestown and Zionsville police departments - executed the warrant and arrested Boots on recommended charges of child exploitation, possession of CSAM and performing sexual conduct in the presence of a child. The department noted that forensic work on the seized devices is still underway.
Task force and investigative work
The county formed its CASE Task Force in 2023 to centralize online child-exploitation investigations and offer shared digital-forensics support to local agencies. Per the Boone County CASE Task Force, the unit pulls together detectives and prosecutors from multiple departments and coordinates with state and federal partners to process digital evidence. The office says the task force regularly receives CyberTipline referrals and operates a collaborative lab where investigators can examine seized phones, computers and other devices.
NCMEC CyberTipline and AI-generated material
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children runs the CyberTipline, which collects reports from technology platforms and the public and routes potential leads to the right law-enforcement agencies. Federal prosecutors have warned that investigators are running into AI-generated sexual imagery more often in child sexual abuse material cases, and a recent federal sentencing highlighted by the Department of Justice shows how AI-created files can surface during CyberTip-driven investigations. Those trends help explain why local task forces are ramping up digital-forensics capacity to deal with ever-larger streams of data.
Charges, custody and next steps
Lebanon police say Boots was identified as the subject of the CyberTipline referral and taken into custody on recommended counts of child exploitation, possession of CSAM and performing sexual conduct in the presence of a child. According to the department, he remains in the Boone County Jail without bond while detectives and forensic teams continue to analyze the seized devices. Prosecutors have not yet said whether formal charges have been filed, and the investigation is described as active while the full forensic review plays out.
How to report suspected abuse
Anyone with immediate safety concerns is urged to call 911. For suspected child abuse or neglect in Indiana, you can contact the Indiana Department of Child Services' Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-800-5556, or file a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline. State officials say Indiana DCS routes reports to local investigators, and NCMEC provides both an online form and a 24-hour call center for urgent tips. Local authorities are asking anyone with information connected to this case to reach out to the Boone County CASE Task Force or their nearest police department.
The Boone County Prosecutor's Office and area law enforcement agencies say they plan to release more information as forensic work and prosecutorial review allow. Tipsters can contact investigators through the offices listed in the Lebanon Police Department's post.
