A Michigan City man has been charged in federal court with seven counts relating to child exploitation and child pornography, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana said.

James Allen Hatch, 45, has been charged with transporting child pornography in interstate commerce (counts I and VII); transporting one or more minors across a state line to engage in sex (counts II and III); enticing one or more minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing video tapes of the conduct (counts IV and V); and possessing child pornography on his computer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement released today.

The investigation began with two tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The first tip lead agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to determine that Hatch’s e-mail account had been used to send suspected child pornography across state lines, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The second tip led authorities to suspect that Hatch was traveling to Wisconsin on April 2 with young boys for the purpose of having sex with them, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Agents with the Wisconsin Department of Justice acted on the second tip and immediately located a motel where Hatch was staying and began surveillance. A search warrant was obtained and executed and agents found Hatch and three young boys as well as a small quantity of marijuana, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The three boys were returned to their parents and Hatch was arrested in Wisconsin on charges of child enticement-sexual contact, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

On April 4 ICE agents executed a search warrant at Hatch’s home near Michigan City and recovered a computer and computer peripherals, several videotapes, handcuffs, and a small quantity of marijuana, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. A subsequent forensic analysis of the computer uncovered hundreds of images of child pornography on the computer, while an examination of two videotapes revealed that they depict children engaging in sexual contact, including one of the boys who was with Hatch in Wisconsin, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

After Hatch posted bond in Wisconsin, he was arrested on a warrant on April 10 by ICE agents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He remains in federal custody and is expected to be arraigned in several days.

Posted 5/15/2008