Indianapolis, IN — A Greensburg man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to transportation of child sexual abuse material.
35-year-old Joseph Yantiss was accused of uploading 13 files containing child sexual abuse material to his Dropbox account between August 15 and 17, 2021.
He was on lifetime parole at the time for convictions in Decatur County on attempted child molesting and child solicitation in 2013, and child pornography possession in 2018
On September 27 of last year, a search warrant was issued for Yantiss and his vehicle.
Two cell telephones were found by police in his vehicle.
According to court documents, police examined both phones, and on one of the phones, they found a video depicting a prepubescent minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Police also found an email account on the phone that was the same email Yantiss used for his Dropbox account.
While Yantiss was being booked into jail, an officer found a microSD card in Yantiss’ wallet. The SD card was examined and contained three files depicting child sexual abuse material.
Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, and Jeffrey Adams, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Indianapolis Field Office, made the announcement.
The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case, while the Indiana State Police and Indiana Department of Correction’s Division of Parole Services provided assistance.
The sentence was issued by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker. As part of the sentence, Judge Barker ordered that Yantiss be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for life following his release from federal prison and ordered Yantiss to pay $4,000 in restitution to the minor victims. He must also register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school, as required by law.
Myers praised Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina M. Korobov who prosecuted this case.
The investigation was conducted by the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a partnership of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies led by ISP.
The Task Force is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting crimes involving the technology-facilitated sexual exploitation of children and the trafficking of child sexual abuse material.
Each year, Indiana ICAC investigators evaluate thousands of tips, investigate hundreds of cases, and rescue dozens of children from ongoing sexual abuse.
In fiscal year 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, the Southern District of Indiana was second out of the 94 federal districts in the country for the number of child sexual exploitation cases prosecuted.
