John E. Childress Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana
Melvin Anderson, a 23-year-old resident of Indianapolis, has been sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison followed by ten years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to charges related to advertising child sexual abuse material and distributing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Court documents reveal that between December 2022 and March 2023, Anderson utilized the social media platform Twitter, now known as X, to advertise and sell child sexual abuse content. He managed several publicly accessible accounts where he advertised links to cloud-based storage folders containing over 600 videos and images of minors, including those under the age of 12, being sexually abused. These advertisements often included thumbnails of explicit images, with payment facilitated through his CashApp and Apple Pay accounts. The links were priced from $10 to $25 each.
Anderson's operation was structured like a retail business; he organized files based on characteristics such as the age of victims and set prices accordingly. Material featuring younger victims was priced higher. To entice customers, he created videos showcasing previews of the content available in these folders.
"This predator not only revictimized children by exploiting the worst days of their lives over and over again to further demand but did so just to make a quick buck," stated John E. Childress, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. "If not for the work of the Secret Service and our AUSAs, this dangerous man would still be profiting from such horrific abuse and incentivizing others to exploit and harm children."
Ike Barnes, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Indianapolis Field Office added: "Child sexual predators will be held accountable for their vile actions and the sentencing in this case demonstrates that. The U.S. Secret Service is committed to devoting its expertise and resources to protecting children from online predators and pursuing those who try to profit from sexual abuse."
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service with U.S. District Judge Matthew P. Brookman imposing the sentence.
Acting U.S. Attorney Childress extended gratitude towards Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith Wood and Tiffany J. Preston for prosecuting this case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse by leveraging federal, state, and local resources.
Victims of child sexual exploitation are encouraged to contact their local police department for assistance or visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/project-safe-childhood for more resources.
