HENRY COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO 80 YEARS
FOR PRODUCING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

PRESS RELEASE

Susan W. Brooks, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced that DICK L. NOEL, 53, Middletown, Indiana, was sentenced to 80 years imprisonment today by U.S. District Judge John Daniel Tinder following his jury conviction for producing child pornography (three counts) and possessing child pornography. The twoday trial began March 12, 2007. The case was the result of an investigation by the Indiana State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is part of the PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD initiative.

The jury found that NOEL produced child pornography on three separate occasions involving a boy only identified as John Doe who was born in 1996. NOEL produced the child pornography between January 2004 and June 2005. Additionally, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant on NOEL’ s computer on August 8, 2005 and found the images of JOHN DOE on eight different disks. NOEL also possessed several thousand pictures of child pornography, some containing children in bondage.

NOEL was discovered when another offender with whom he was communicating online was arrested and prosecuted for molesting a fourteen-year old female in another state.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Gayle L. Helart, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Tinder imposed a period of supervised release for life at the completion of Noel’ s sentence. In the federal sentencing scheme, offenders earn only 60 days of “ good-time” credit each year. Therefore, NOEL will serve at least 66 years before he is first eligible for release

This case is being brought as part of PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys Offices, PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

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