An Indiana man, Todd Schannen Pearson, 55, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for possession of child pornography. This will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich.
Pearson, from Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2024. The case was overseen by U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen, who also ordered Pearson to pay $42,000 in restitution.
The investigation began when Verizon reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that a user had uploaded five files depicting a prepubescent minor engaged in inappropriate conduct to its cloud storage in June 2020. The Bozeman Police Department identified Pearson as the account owner and discovered additional images uploaded to Verizon’s cloud storage.
In September 2021, Bozeman police seized Pearson's cell phone during his presence in Bozeman. A forensic analysis revealed over 10,002 images and 84 videos of minors engaged in explicit conduct on his device. These materials were transported via the internet.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with investigations conducted by the Bozeman Police Department, Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, and Montana Sexual and Violent Offender Registry.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse through federal, state, and local resources.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit Justice.gov/PSC.