RICHMOND, Indiana — A 65-year-old Richmond man will spend the next 15 years behind bars after he was convicted on federal charges of possessing more than a million images of child sexual abuse.
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David Julien was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. He pleaded guilty to the charges, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana said in a prepared statement.
Richmond firefighters, called to a fire in the kitchen of Julien’s home in January 2022, discovered the images, said Zachary Myers, the U.S. attorney, citing court documents. After putting out the fire on the stove, firefighters began their investigation into the cause of the fire.
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“While inside, a deputy fire chief found notebooks on a dresser that contained pictures of child sexual abuse. Officers with the Richmond Police Department spoke to Julien, who admitted ‘there will be thousands and thousands and thousands more of those photos,’ ” Myers said.
During a search of the house, police found eight binders full of printed sexual abuse images as well as a computer and 17 hard drives containing explicit images and videos, Myers said. Based on the investigation, police found Julien had been obtaining the images since at least 2017.
“For years this defendant collected over a million depictions of children being subjected to horrific sexual abuses — including rapes of babies and toddlers,” Myers said.
“He didn’t care about the trauma that was inflicted and perpetuated, so long as he could enjoy the heinous material he craved. Thanks to the Richmond Fire and Police Departments, the U.S. Secret Service, and our federal prosecutors, our children are safer, and this pedophile is behind bars where he belongs.”
As part of his sentence, Julien will be on 5 years’ probation following his release from prison. He also will have to register as a sex offender.
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