HAMMOND – Troy Kidwell, 39, Portage, Indiana was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Philip P. Simon upon his plea of guilty to Attempted Enticement of a Minor; Receipt of Child Pornography; Possession of Child Pornography; and Distribution of Child Pornography announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
Kidwell was sentenced to 300 months in prison followed by 15 years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $49,000 in restitution.
According to documents in this case, Kidwell was apprehended while travelling to the home of a 10-year-old child. Text messages on his phone showed that he intended to have sex with the 10-year-old, and officers found a sexual lubricant in his possession. A subsequent investigation revealed that Kidwell possessed hundreds of images and videos of child [censored]ography, including images he received from a child he had been communicating with in Tennessee. Kidwell had also distributed videos of child [censored]ography to an undercover officer in Florida, while trying to arrange to pay to have sex with children.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the Porter County Sherriff’s Office, and the Okaloosa County, Florida Sherriff’s Office. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Molly Kelley and Jill Koster, formerly an Assistant United States in the Northern District of Indiana Attorney (now an AUSA in the District of the Virgin Islands).