A Liberty Township man accused of telling his girlfriend to molest a Chesterton boy and record the molestation has been convicted on all 23 felony counts filed against him.

Ryan Roy Schroeder, 27, was convicted by a jury on Thursday. The five most serious counts alone—aiding in child molesting, a Class A felony—each carry a maximum term of 50 years.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 22 before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Cheryl Polarek told the Chesterton Tribune on Friday that she will ask Harper to sentence Schroeder to consecutive—not to concurrent—terms, not only because under state law each separate child-pornographic image is a “different crime” but because Schroeder “is a danger.”

“My goal here is not to let him see any freedom,” Polarek said.

Schroeder’s former girlfriend, Tara Tryon, 22, of Wanatah—who testified against him at trial—is herself facing five counts of child molesting in Porter Superior Court. The Indiana State Police began its investigation in October 2011, when investigators came into possession of 39 images and two videos of a woman later identified as Tryon.

According to the ISP, Tryon and Schroeder started dating in January 2010 after meeting at a Chesterton restaurant and at some point thereafter Schroeder “pressured” Tryon to take pictures of a Chesterton boy she was baby-sitting. Schroeder “wanted her to begin with the boy as he was younger and wouldn’t talk,” the ISP said. “He would specifically state what he wanted to see (Tryon) do.”

Multiple images of child pornography were found on Schroeder’s external hard drive in his barracks in Florida, where he was stationed as a sailor in the U.S. Navy.

Another sailor, stationed in Virginia, Adriane Holley Harris, also testified at trial that she recorded nude images of a young girl and texted those images to Schroeder at his behest. Harris, who met Schroeder at basic training at Great Lakes, Ill., is now serving a 25-year term in federal prison.

Polarek told the Tribune that Schroeder “was clearly looking for a type of woman, a very manipulable woman.”

“He is such a dangerous person because his ability to manipulate is unprecedented,” Polarek said. “He is very narcissistic. He thinks he’s smarter than anybody else. He thinks the whole world revolves around Ryan Schroeder.

Posted 12/24/2012