Erik Hanson, 31, of Westfield, was sentenced on Sept. 14 to 38 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a child, conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child and transportation of child sexual abuse material. In addition, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ordered that Hanson pay $30,000 in restitution to his victims and be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for life following his release from federal prison.
According to court documents, after an online undercover investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation alerted detectives with the Westfield Police Department to evidence that Erik Hanson was using Kik, a mobile messaging app, to solicit sex with a 14-year-old girl. An undercover FBI Special Agent had been communicating with Hanson posing as the child and the child’s father. Searches in 2022 found photos and videos of child sexual abuse material on Hanson’s Kik account and at his Westfield home. In an interview with agents, Hanson admitted to owning two Kik accounts for the purpose of viewing child sexual abuse material and belonging to many online groups that traded these images.
“I commend the work of the dedicated investigators at the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the Hamilton County Metropolitan Child Exploitation Task Force and the Westfield Police Department to hold this predator accountable and remove him from our community,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood mobilizes federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
