"Artistic Expressions"

Dale Russell of Carmel, Indiana

CARMEL MAN SENTENCED TO 38 YEARS FOR PRODUCING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

INDIANAPOLIS - Dale E. Russell, 48, Carmel, Indiana, was sentenced to 38 years in prison late yesterday by U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Barker following his conviction at trial March 3, 2010, for producing child pornography, announced Timothy M. Morrison, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

This case was the result of a six-year investigation by the Greenfield Police Department, Carmel Police Department, Kokomo Police Department, Indiana State Police, and Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). During the investigation, Russell fled to Mexico and was there from 2007 to 2009. In August 2009, Russell was expelled from Mexico and was returned to the United States. He was arrested by ICE agents when he landed in Los Angeles. Russell was convicted after a three-day jury trial March 1-3, 2010 of producing child pornography on four separate occasions involving two minor victims, Jane Doe 1, born in 1992, and Jane Doe 2, born in 1994.

The evidence at trial showed that Russell set up websites in 2004 for the Jane Doe victims under the pretense they were modeling. He then had various photo sessions with them and placed many of the pictures on these websites. The pictures charged in the indictment as child pornography were discovered on a computer of an unrelated offender in Canada.

Russell’s defense at trial that the pictures were artistic expressions and not illegal child pornography was rejected by the jury. According to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gayle L. Helart and A. Brant Cook who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Barker also imposed lifetime supervised release following Russell’s release from prison. During the period of supervised release, Russell must have no contact with minors under age 18. Russell was fined in the amount of $5,000.

Prior to his arrest and subsequent conviction, Russell was the owner of and a photographer for the child modeling agency known as "Child Web Models:"

The Child Web Models website