This article describes a few of the child exploitation cases conducted by Indiana’s ICAC Task Force over the past year, as well as a related investigation from Illinois
Hunting child predators can be a lengthy, complex process that involves executing search warrants, tracing digital footprints looking for evidence, and bringing charges against individuals suspected of possessing, promoting, or trafficking Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). That illicit material involves images and videos of unspeakable crimes. Terabytes of content can include hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence stored on a thumb drive the size of a fingernail that’s been buried in the cushions of a couch or in a pile of clutter. Once those storage devices are found, often with the help of an Our Rescue Sponsored ESD K9, investigators begin sifting through the material, searching for clues that can lead to a child who needs to be brought to safety.
The State of Indiana’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force is on the leading edge of the fight against child exploitation. Indiana’s ICAC Task Force is one of 61 teams in the U.S., and is a partnership comprised of more than 50 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies across the state. Each year, the task force evaluates thousands of CyberTips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), conducts hundreds of investigations, and rescues dozens of children from ongoing sexual abuse.
Michael J. Mezo Faces CSAM Charges After Months-Long Investigation
McLeansboro, Illinois – December 2025
Prior to being identified as a suspect in a violent home invasion, Michael J. Mezo, 63, was already the subject of an ongoing CSAM investigation led by local authorities in the State of Illinois. Investigators with the McLeansboro Police Department and the Hamilton County, Illinois Sheriff’s Office searched Mezo’s residence on December 11, 2025. Instead of rushing an arrest, they took the time needed to build charges that would hold up in court. That patience and perseverance led to multiple counts filed against him for possession of CSAM.
What appeared to be separate crimes – assault, home invasion, and CSAM possession – turned out to be related after all. Mezo was identified as a suspect in a home invasion and before fleeing in a stolen truck.
It was Corydon Police Department in Indiana who made the final arrest, making contact with Mezo during a routine traffic stop. They identified that he was in a stolen vehicle and was a wanted subject out of Illinois. During the arrest they were able to use their Mission Darkness Locker, provided by Our Rescue, to store evidence for the agencies working on Mezo’s case, preserving key evidence.
Michael Knighton and Kole Baker Arrested on CSAM and Trafficking Charges
Hamilton County, Indiana – October 2025
The numbers in Michael Knighton’s case are hard to sit with: more than 4,800 photos and videos, many showing children under the age of 12. Once detectives with Hamilton County’s Metro ICAC Task Force found evidence of CSAM possession on Knighton’s social media accounts, they moved quickly to obtain a search warrant for his Indianapolis residence. Their commitment to follow-through is what turned a single lead into a more extensive picture of the harm he was accused of inflicting on these vulnerable children. Knighton was taken to the Marion County Jail on multiple felony charges.
Hamilton County is a fast-growing, relatively affluent suburban region located just north of the City of Indianapolis, Indiana. The median price of homes is around $520,000, and it has a reputation for top-ranked schools, safe communities, and a high quality of life. The fact that it is also the location of the child exploitation investigations discussed in this article, is a reminder that this kind of crime can occur anywhere, even in the most idyllic communities.
Another case of suspected child exploitation started the way Knighton’s case began – with a review of social media accounts. Kole Baker’s case is an example of how manipulation can be used as a tool to disguise exploitation. As investigators reviewed six of his social media accounts, they found evidence that he had been promoting child sex trafficking. A subsequent search of his residence uncovered additional evidence that showed him allegedly building trust with young females online in order to manipulate them into sending him CSAM. Baker was located and arrested in Enterprise, Alabama, and then extradited back to neighboring Madison County, Indiana, to face charges.
Child exploitation cases vary in scope and scale but certain aspects are consistent: the children behind the horrific images and videos of CSAM confiscated by authorities are real. They have names, friends, and perhaps a favorite hobby. Some child survivors are infants and toddlers while others are in their teenage years. Another consistent aspect is that these children have been put in harm’s way, in what can become a seemingly endless cycle of exploitation, manipulation, and coercion.
One predator’s criminal action can ripple through a community and travel around the world via the internet in a matter of minutes. Thankfully, CyberTips also travel at speed.
One such CyberTip landed with local law enforcement in January of that year, leading investigators to unfold a case of child exploitation that had significantly broad reach.
Like many, this case could be traced back to a single CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). This tip resulted in the arrests of four people suspected of committing horrific crimes against children in Hamilton County.
Detectives investigating Erik Scot Reed, of Morristown, Indiana, served warrants on his social media accounts that turned up the evidence needed to move the case forward. Investigators kept following the evidence and soon three more individuals – Stephanie Reeves, Anthony Strahl, and April Brown, all from the community of Greenfield – were charged with a total of 42 felonies.
Reed, Reeves, Strahl, and Brown were charged on January 29 and 30 with felonies that included CSAM possession, child exploitation, and sexual misconduct involving children, among other charges. While Reed was charged separately, the other three suspects were booked into the Hancock County Jail.
These Hamilton County cases are just a few of the many efforts that demonstrate the importance of coordinated, thorough, methodical, and determined investigations in helping to bring children to safety and to ensure the courts are equipped with the evidence that enables them to prosecute suspects to the full extent of the law.
Similar coordination and expert investigative work led to an even larger group of arrests, across the county line.
Eight Arrested Child Sex Crime Investigation
Madison County – May 2025
No single agency could have made an arrest of this magnitude happen alone. Eight arrests in Madison County, Indiana, came from one closely coordinated effort, a partnership of several law enforcement agencies. In this case, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office collaborated with the Hamilton County, Indiana Metro ICAC Task Force, the Anderson Police Department, and the Madison County Prosecutor’s Office. Preliminary charges against the suspects included child solicitation, a Level 4 felony, and resisting law enforcement.
Thanks to the high level of coordination, and determined efforts of thorough investigators, children and families in Madison County are safer today, and eight suspects now await their fates in the judicial system.
South of Madison County, a different task force was working two separate leads that would come together into one investigation of their own.
Two Jeffersonville Men Charged with CSAM Possession
Jeffersonville, Indiana – October-November 2025
If we haven’t yet emphasized the complex and web-like nature of child exploitation cases and how expert investigators work together across jurisdictions to find, arrest, and help put criminals away…let’s look at the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana. This city sits on the banks of the Ohio River in the southeastern corner of the State of Indiana, directly across from Louisville, Kentucky. In many ways, the city represents an intersection.
Detectives in Jeffersonville spent months investigating child exploitation cases that had originated with just two NCMEC CyberTips that were received in July and September, 2025. On October 28, detectives joined forces with the Indiana State Police ICAC Task Force to execute search warrants at residences in the Jackson Heights neighborhood and the Orchard Hills Apartment Complex.
Jackson Heights is known as a quiet, established subdivision of Jeffersonville with large yards and easy access to schools, parks, and shopping nearby. Similarly, Orchard Hills Apartments offer a park-like setting with spacious floor plans and amenities like a fitness center and outdoor pool. These are inviting, family-friendly communities within the broader Jeffersonville community.
Local law enforcement had recovered digital evidence tied to two men suspected of crimes against children. Michael Tackett, 31, was arrested that day, on October 28, and charged with 20 counts of CSAM possession, all of which are Level 5 felonies.
A week later, on November 5, detectives arrested Benjamin Cawthorn, 21, on 10 counts of CSAM possession and two counts of child exploitation, all Level 4 felonies. Cawthorn has pleaded not guilty and is being held on a $100,000 bond, along with a no-contact order barring him from any contact with anyone under 18 while the case proceeds. For now, this condition is a concrete obstacle that stands between him and any minor child for as long as this case remains open. In keeping with the high level of partnership and coordination across Indiana law enforcement, the Clarksville Police Department also assisted in this investigation.
The Attributes of Strong Investigative Work: Earning Results that Keep Children Safe
Five separate investigations, spanning Indiana and Illinois, led to charges against 17 individuals — these cases, taken together, show how much sustained, coordinated work
This article is a glimpse into five separate investigations across two states and multiple counties. Expert coordination, partnership involving multiple agencies and jurisdictions, and strong, methodical, thorough investigative work resulted in 17 arrests. These men and women are suspected of committing crimes of child exploitation, of harming vulnerable children.
These crimes were often disguised by manipulation or hidden behind peaceful, family-friendly communities. More often than not, a single CyberTip from NCMEC provides enough information to launch investigations into four suspects in Hamilton County. A no-contact order, once granted in Jeffersonville, became yet another safeguard that stands between a suspect and a child. These cases depended on the collaborative efforts of multiple local police departments, the State of Indiana’s ICAC Task Force, county sheriff’s offices, state police, and national partners working in tandem, case after case, tip after tip. At the center of every one of these cases was a vulnerable child (or children) whose safety was central to the mission.
This is exactly the kind of frontline effort Our Rescue exists to support. By equipping and empowering the law enforcement agencies and task forces carrying out this work, we help ensure that cases like these can be fully investigated and that offenders are held accountable. We are not alone in this fight: together with our partners and donors, we are committed to supporting the police officers, detectives, and task forces that protect children in communities across the State of Indiana and beyond.
The men and women of law enforcement are the heroes that make up the frontlines in the fight against child exploitation, and they do all that they can even when they may be overworked and underfunded. These officers know that there may be a vulnerable child embedded, faceless and unnamed, in the next CyperTip they receive and that this child may be waiting, hoping to be rescued, unable to speak up themselves.
Our generous donors help fund the fight against child exploitation. Your dollars directly support the resources like our ESD K9s, digital forensics software, and innovative tools and training. With critical support from donors like you, Our Rescue will continue working alongside local, state, and federal law enforcement, doing all we can to help enable their efforts to keep children safe.
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