A Fishers man was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison Feb. 6 for distributing child sexual abuse material.
According to court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received information from Omegle, a 1-on-1 random video chat application, that Robert Ficzner, 27, had displayed an image of a nude prepubescent 5-year-old to other Omegle users. Ficzner was approached by investigators in March 2022 and admitted that he showed the sexually explicit images of the child to elicit a “reaction” from other Omegle users. Moreover, Ficzner admitted to receiving and sharing child sexual abuse material via the Kik and Telegram instant messaging applications.
Investigators searched Ficzner’s cellphone and found multiple files containing child sexual abuse material and conversations between Ficzner and other participants discussing desires and plans to kidnap and sexually abuse children.
Ficzner’s collection of child sexual abuse material contained more than 600 images and included depictions of the sexual abuse and torture of infants and toddlers as well as sadistic and masochistic conduct.
“Civilized society will not tolerate the trafficking of images of the sexual torture of babies and toddlers,” said Zachary A. Myers, United States attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “Even worse, this defendant discussed his desires and plans to kidnap and sexually abuse children with likeminded offenders online. The serious sentence imposed here demonstrates that federal, state, and local law enforcement will root out those criminals who pose a danger to our children, prosecute them, and get them off our streets.”
Homeland Security Investigations, the Hamilton County Metropolitan Child Exploitation Task Force and the Dept. of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson. Stinson also ordered that Ficzner be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years following his release from federal prison and pay $8,000 in restitution to the victims. Ficzner must also register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works or goes to school.
