Indianapolis Registered Sex Offender Sentenced to 44 Years in Federal Prison for Sexually Exploiting Eleven-Year-Old Over Snapchat

INDIANAPOLIS—Sonny Dale Applegate, 27, of Indianapolis, has been sentenced to forty-four years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of committing a felony offense while required to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents, on December 17, 2020, Applegate was convicted of possession of child pornography in Marion County and sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment, with nearly the entire sentence suspended to probation. At the time Applegate committed the following offenses, he was on probation because of that conviction.

Despite being on probation and subject to stringent restrictions, Applegate reoffended. Between August 1 and September 12, 2022, Applegate used Snapchat to communicate with a child he knew was underage. At the time, the victim was an eleven-year-old child residing in Missouri. Through Snapchat, Applegate engaged in graphically explicit sexual chat with the child and routinely demanded that they create and send him images and videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct that he directed.

On September 12, 2022, during a routine probation visit, Applegate’s probation officer discovered that he was in possession of a Samsung Galaxy cell phone hidden under a pillow. A forensic investigation recovered the child sex abuse material of the child, and more than 600 images or videos of child sex abuse material involving other children that he had collected from the Internet.

Applegate must also pay $10,000 in restitution and is required to register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school, pursuant to state law.

“Every family should know that social media apps like Snapchat are not safe spaces for young children and are often hunting grounds for predators who seek gratification from their exploitation,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana “The federal prison sentence imposed here ensures that the public will be protected from this offender for many decades to come. Other online predators should take notice that the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the FBI, and our federal prosecutors, will work tirelessly to hold them accountable and make our children safer from abuse.”

"This sentence reflects the profound harm the defendant caused the victim and should serve as a warning that those who exploit children will be held accountable,” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Herbert J. Stapleton. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue our unwavering commitment to ensure we protect vulnerable children from such heinous crimes.”

The FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office investigated this case, with valuable assistance provided by Indianan Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Marion County Probation, and the FBI’s Kansas City, Missouri, Field Office. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney II.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany J. Preston, who prosecuted this case.

This investigation was conducted by the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a multiagency task force led by the Indiana State Police that investigates and prosecutes persons who use the internet to sexually exploit or entice children. Each year, Indiana ICAC investigators evaluate thousands of tips, investigate hundreds of cases, and rescue dozens of children from ongoing sexual abuse. Visit https://www.in.gov/isp/icactf/ to learn more about their efforts.  

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 to identify and rescue victims.

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