COLUMBUS — A federal grand jury in Columbus indicted Michael D. Dunbar, 48, of Fredericktown, on Thursday charging him with six counts of distributing child pornography.
Dunbar is a registered nurse who has worked for home health care agencies in Knox, Richland and Franklin counties; and has worked as an independent home health care worker in Franklin and Fairfield counties.
According to court documents, an investigator with an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Virginia was patrolling the Internet in October 2009 looking for people distributing child pornography. The undercover officer created a private chat session with an individual identifying himself as “Patnted3.” In that session and five subsequent sessions, the individual sent the undercover officer a total of 100 digital images of prepubescent boys engaged in explicit sexual activity.
The information was shared with ICE agents, who determined that the Internet address traced back to Dunbar’s home in Knox County. Task Force officers and Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputies, searched Dunbar’s home on March 2, seized his computers and arrested him. He has been in custody since his arrest.
Each count is punishable by at least five years and up to 20 years imprisonment.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant should be presumed innocent unless convicted in court.
This investigation is part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 12,000 individuals.
ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com
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