A Carmel man who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography received a 3-year suspended sentence March 23 from Hamilton County Superior Court Judge William Hughes.
As part of the plea agreement, the court dismissed five other counts of possession of child pornography and one count of child exploitation against Brady Klain, a resident of the Village of WestClay.
Before sentencing Klain, Hughes said he changed his opinion on the plea as he learned more about the situation.
“When you made this plea, before I read this and the other stuff I read in getting ready for (sentencing), I thought there’s no way in the world I’d accept this plea, none,” Hughes said from the bench. “If one reads only the public documents in this case, one gets the feeling they need to take a very, very, very long hot shower just from having looked at it. I don’t know of anybody that I know who wouldn’t be offended by the content of the pictures as they’re described in the probable cause affidavit.”
However, Hughes and Klain’s attorney, Russell Cate, said during the hearing that information contained in a pre-sentencing investigation report, which is not a public document, showed that assessments concluded Klain’s likelihood of recidivism is extremely low. That, combined with Klain’s remorse, cooperation during the investigation and strong network of family support led Hughes to accept the plea, he said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, police began investigating Klain, 24, in February 2022 after a detective with the Fishers Police Dept. received a report generated by Kik, an instant messaging app, stating that a user had uploaded child pornography through its system. The detective subpoenaed AT&T for the associated IP address to identify Klain as the Kik user.
Police arrested Klain in June 2022. The affidavit states that during an interview, Klain confirmed that he used the account in question and that he had used Kik “for years” to view adult pornography and child pornography.
At the sentencing hearing, Klain told the judge the date of his arrest is “forever engrained” in his mind as the day that changed his life for the better. He said he has spent the last eight or nine months working to better himself.
“It was an embarrassment for me, and an embarrassment for my family,” Klain said. “It’s something I’ll live with the rest of my life and can only learn from it and grow from it.”
Conditions of the plea agreement state that Klain may not live within 1,000 feet of school property, must consent to a search of personal computers at any time and must complete a sex offender treatment program.
