Five men are facing charges after Noblesville police said they spent days messaging with what they believed were children between the ages of 13 and 15, then allegedly moved to arrange in-person meetings. The arrests happened over a 48-hour stretch, October 13 and October 15, as part of a targeted online predator investigation run by the Noblesville Police Department.
According to WISH-TV, detectives posed as juveniles living in Noblesville during the operation. Investigators said numerous individuals kept talking with the decoy accounts even after being told repeatedly that they were chatting with someone underage, and police say the five men who were ultimately arrested went further, allegedly arranging meetings and demonstrating intent to engage in unlawful sexual activity with the perceived minor.
As WIBC 93.1 FM reported, all five men now face preliminary child solicitation charges, but two of them are looking at a far more serious count. Jason M. Slyger, 44, of Fishers, was arrested on October 14 on preliminary charges that include human trafficking and child solicitation. Timothy R. Russell, 62, of Indianapolis, was arrested the same day facing the same pair of preliminary charges, human trafficking and child solicitation, per the same account.
Who Was Arrested and When
Keyante D. Tompkins, 29, of Indianapolis, was the first arrested, taken into custody on October 13 on preliminary charges of child solicitation, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and resisting law enforcement — the most additional charges of anyone swept up in the operation, the station's report notes. Two more men were arrested on October 15: Jaziel H. Villegas-Villalobos, 40, of Indianapolis, on a preliminary charge of child solicitation, and Dean A. Hittle, 39, of Celina, Ohio, also on a preliminary charge of child solicitation.
All five suspects were transported to the Hamilton County Jail on their preliminary charges, the station's report states.
Part of a Pattern of Hamilton County Stings
This is not Noblesville's first undercover push against online predators this year. In July, the department ran a four-day undercover operation targeting suspected online child predators across Hamilton County, running from July 13 through July 16, according to WIBC. That operation also involved detectives creating online profiles posing as teenagers ages 13 to 15, and officers arrested four men on July 16 after they arranged in-person meetings with people they believed were minors.
Noblesville police also arrested two men on child solicitation charges during a separate sting operation earlier this year, as reported by FOX59. And the pattern extends beyond city lines: Hamilton County's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force separately busted 11 men accused of traveling to Westfield to solicit children for sex, according to FOX59. In that investigation, ICAC detectives created fake social media accounts on different platforms to pose as an underage girl, and within just three days several men allegedly pursued sexual conversations with the supposed minor and sent nude photos before attempting to meet her at a house in Westfield, where law enforcement was waiting.
A Statewide Task Force Built for This
Investigations like these fall under the umbrella of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a multiagency task force described as investigating and prosecuting people who use the internet to sexually exploit or entice children. The repeated Hamilton County operations this year, from Noblesville's July and October stings to the separate Westfield case, point to sustained local law enforcement attention on online solicitation, though no verified statewide statistics are available to show whether such cases are increasing.
What remains unresolved is how the preliminary charges against Tompkins, Slyger, Russell, Villegas-Villalobos, and Hittle will ultimately be handled in court. No booking numbers, attorneys, or formal charging affidavits have been made public for the five men arrested this week.
