Warning: this article mentions child sex crimes that may be disturbing to some readers.
BEDFORD, Ind. — Indiana State Police arrested a Bedford man Tuesday for possessing and sharing child pornography.
Joshua Carter, 43, is charged with five counts of distribution of child porn depicting someone under 12 (level 4 felonies), and five counts of possession of child porn (level 5 felonies).
According to state police, the investigation began after two cybertips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which alleged Carter had shared the explicit files on instant messaging app, Discord.
During the investigation, state police detectives were notified that Homeland Security Investigations of North Carolina had also opened a child pornography investigation into Carter.
If convicted, Carter faces a maxmium sentence of 12 years for each level 4 felony, and up to eight years for each level 5 felony, according to Indiana Sentencing Guidelines.
The ICAC Task Force is a multi-agency task force that investigates and prosecutes online child sex crimes, according to its website.
In 2023, there were more than 16-thousand cyber tips submitted, up from 14-thousand the year before, according to statistics provided by the task force. In 2019, which was the first year included in the statistics, there were a total of 4-thousand reports.
Anyone with information on exploitation, solicitation, and enticement-type crimes against children are encouraged to submit a tip to NCMEC.
