A Lebanon, Indiana man has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison followed by 15 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to two counts of sexually exploiting a child. A federal judge in Indianapolis imposed the sentence on 50-year-old Erick Christian, whose abuse of the girl began when she was about 6 years old and continued until she was about 11, according to court documents.
As reported by WISH-TV, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker imposed Christian's sentence, and he was also ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to the child. Court documents cited in that report say Christian took sexually explicit images of the girl, including while she showered, and made her wear adult lingerie.
How the Case Came to Light
Law enforcement received the information that set the investigation in motion on October 19, 2023, when the Indiana Department of Child Services reported that a girl had been sexually abused by Christian, according to court documents referenced by WISH-TV. The Lebanon Police Department and the FBI Indianapolis Division both investigated the case, the outlet reported. FOX59 similarly reported that authorities launched their investigation into Christian in October 2023 after the department supplied information to local law enforcement.
Investigators searched Christian's home under a warrant on March 14, 2025, WISH-TV reported. During that search, they found a cell phone containing sexually explicit photos of the girl, according to court documents. FOX59's report on the same search described officials finding sexually explicit photos depicting the minor along with roughly 320 additional images containing child sexual abuse material, and said officials stated Christian used artificial intelligence to create many of those images.
Hundreds of Images, Some Reportedly AI-Generated
According to court documents cited by WISH-TV, investigators found at least 320 images of minors or computer-generated minors engaging in sexually explicit acts, with the people depicted ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers. That figure aligns with FOX59's separate reporting of around 320 images of child sexual abuse material recovered from the search.
U.S. Attorney Tom Wheeler said the pursuit of people who victimize children is among the most important work his office does, and said Christian would spend decades in prison because of the work of law enforcement partners and federal prosecutors, per WISH-TV. Wheeler thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carolyn Haney and Maryann T. Mindrum for prosecuting the case.
Officials Respond to the Sentencing
FBI official Timothy J. O'Malley said a child's home should be a place of safety, not sexual abuse and exploitation, and said the FBI remains committed to protecting children and bringing exploiters to justice, according to the same WISH-TV report.
The case echoes a broader pattern seen in federal prosecutions nationally. In Illinois, a Bloomington man, Jason Alan Isaacson, was sentenced on November 3 to 25 years in prison followed by a lifetime term of supervised release for attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Central District of Illinois. Separately, the United States Sentencing Commission has reported that the vast majority of fiscal year 2019 child pornography production offenders, 80.9%, were sentenced for an offense that involved sexual contact of a minor.
