News Releases

Former Indiana police officer sentenced to 15 years for producing child pornography

INDIANAPOLIS - A former veteran police officer who produced child pornography with a 16-year-old girl was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison. The sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by the following agencies: the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the Henry County Sheriff's Office; the Henry County Prosecutor's Office; the Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force; the U.S. Secret Service; the Indiana State Police; and the Indiana police departments of New Castle, Carmel, Fishers, and Noblesville.

Lawrence Ross Frame, 46, of New Castle, Ind., was sentenced Nov. 17 following his guilty plea to sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography. Frame was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release following his release from prison. During the period of supervised release, Frame must register as a sex offender and comply with sex offender treatment, among other conditions.

Prior to his arrest, Frame was a detective with the New Castle Police Department, where he had been employed for nearly 20 years. In early August 2009, the New Castle Police Department and the Henry County Sheriff's Office received a report that Frame may have had sex with a minor female and produced images and videos of her engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The minor female, named "Jane Doe 1" in court documents to protect her identity, was 16 years old at the time the images were taken. Federal law makes it illegal to produce such material involving minors under the age of 18.

On Aug. 4, 2009, the Henry County Sheriff's Office notified the Henry County Prosecutor's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office of the allegations. Within hours, a joint investigation was initiated involving local, state and federal agencies, many which are members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children ("ICAC)" Task Force, due to the allegations that computer evidence and a minor victim were involved.

Frame was taken into custody after he reported for his scheduled shift with the New Castle Police Department on Aug. 4, 2009. Numerous digital storage devices, such as thumb drives and camera memory cards, were taken from Frame's pockets and personal effects, in addition to laptop computers in his vehicles. Using innovative techniques developed in Indiana, Frame's digital storage devices and computers were forensically examined on-site by ICAC members. Child pornography images and videos of the victim that were produced on several dates were found on various devices. Frame admitted to producing the child pornography and was arrested that evening.

Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Brant Cook, Southern District of Indiana, prosecuted this case.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to identify, investigate and arrest those who prey on children, including human traffickers, international sex tourists, Internet pornographers, and foreign-national predators whose crimes make them deportable.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.