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The Indiana Supreme Court has accepted the resignation of an Anderson attorney who faces federal criminal charges for possession
and distribution of child pornography.
An order dated May 20 was posted by the Indiana Appellate Clerk’s Office Tuesday in the case In The Matter of Samuel C. Hasler, 48S00-DI- 276, which
dismisses the ongoing disciplinary action against the longtime family law attorney who has a pending case against him in the
U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Indiana.
A sole practitioner admitted to the bar in 1987, Samuel Hasler was arrested in March on two counts of distributing child
pornography and one count of possession of child pornography following a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement and police in Carmel and Fishers. The complaint says that Hasler used a computer to distribute multiple images
of child pornography through the Internet to someone in another state on Dec. 3, 2009. Then on Feb. 14, he allegedly used
a computer to distribute more images of child pornography by sending them through the Internet to an undercover police officer,
and the complaint also alleges Hasler kept images and videos of child pornography in his law office on an external hard drive.
Following his arrest, Hasler has been at a community confinement facility and a drug test there revealed he was positive
for cocaine. As a result, the federal court on May 12 modified his conditions of release to include drug testing and treatments,
if necessary. A trial date hasn’t been set and the case remains pending. If convicted, he faces between 5 and 20 years
in prison for distribution and up to 10 years in prison for the possession charge. He also faces up to $250,000 in fines per
count and a term of supervised release, possibly for life.
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