News Releases

Indiana man charged with producing child pornography with 8 children

INDIANAPOLIS - An Indiana man accused of producing child pornography with eight children between the ages of 8 and 13 years old was indicted in federal court on Wednesday. The charges resulted from a joint investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Kokomo Police Department.

David Metzger, 53, of Kokomo, Ind., was indicted Dec. 16 in the Southern District of Indiana for producing and possessing child pornography.

The 18-count indictment alleges that Metzger produced child pornography in 2003, and again in 2008, involving eight minors identified only by their age. The children were born between 1996 and 2001, making them between 8 and 13 years old. The indictment further alleges the minors' images were on digital camera tapes, printed out on paper, or electronically stored in a computer. It is also alleged Metzger possessed numerous images of child pornography on several pieces of media including separate hard drives, thumb drives, and DVD disks.

"Anyone who sexually exploits children will learn that ICE and our law enforcement partners will hold them accountable for their despicable actions," said Daniel Dill, resident agent-in-charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in Indianapolis. "We will continue working closely with other law enforcement agencies and prosecutors at the local, state and federal level to investigate and bring child predators to justice."

Metzger faces up to 30 years in prison on each count of producing child pornography, including a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle L. Helart, Southern District of Indiana, is prosecuting the case.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 12,000 individuals.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.