Zionsville firefighter paramedic headed to prison for having, sharing child sex abuse images
ZIONSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — A Zionsville firefighter paramedic will spend eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to distribution and possession of child sex abuse material, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Daniel Stevens, 48, of Whitestown, was arrested in May 2021 on charges of child exploitation and the possession of child pornography. The state’s case against Stevens was dismissed in the fall of 2021 after federal prosecutors filed similar charges.
Federal prosecutors say Stevens, who worked at a local hospital in addition to his work at the fire department, used his employers’ internet connection to share many images and videos depicting child sexual abuse to others on Twitter. His employers were not aware of his actions.
Court papers say Stevens used his tablet to store thousands of images and videos depicting prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
“The images and videos depicted pubescent and prepubescent children, including children who were clearly under the age of 12 years old,” court documents filed with the Department of Justice say.
Federal prosecutors also say some of the children in the images were infants and toddlers.
Stevens also viewed and saved explicit material that depicted sadomasochistic sexual abuse of children, according to court papers.
In addition to his prison sentence, he was ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution to each of the minor victims depicted in the images. He must also register as a sex offender.
