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An Anderson couple faces decades in prison after being convicted for their roles in a conspiracy to sexually exploit a child.
Jamie Powell, aka Jamie Cramer, 44, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit the sexual exploitation of a minor as well as actual and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Young also sentenced Richard Smith, 42, to 50 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit the sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child sexual abuse material.
Smith must also pay $10,000 in restitution.
Smith’s federal sentence was ordered to be served consecutively to his state convictions for dealing in methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, and battery with bodily injury to a public safety officer, for which he received concurrent sentences of 16, 5, and 4 years in prison.
According to court documents, Powell is the mother of five children, including Minor Victim 1, who was between one and two years old at the time of the offense. In early 2020, the Indiana Department of Child Services filed to terminate Powell’s parental rights.
Powell relocated to an apartment in Anderson, with three of her children and her boyfriend, Smith. Powell’s youngest children, Minor Victim 1 and Minor Witness 1 were in DCS custody.
Between late 2020 and early 2021, Powell and Smith discussed Smith’s sexual interest in Powell’s children and in bestiality over text messages.
In those messages, the couple agreed for Powell to molest Minor Victim 1 and produce sexually explicit photos and videos of the child to send to Smith. The messages also contained extremely graphic and crude requests from Smith detailing how he wanted Powell to abuse the minor.
Throughout this time period, Powell was permitted to have supervised visitation with two of her children, including Minor Victim 1.
During these court-ordered visitations, Powell waited until supervisors were not looking to record sexually explicit videos and images of the child, attempting to evade suspicion by pretending to change her diaper.
In total, over 25 visits, Powell produced 577 images and videos of child sexual abuse of Minor Victim 1 and shared 486 of them with Smith.
Investigators located more than 2,400 image files of child sex abuse material and approximately 170 video files of bestiality on Powell’s cell phone. On Smith’s cell phone, investigators found more than 5,000 images and videos of child sex abuse material.
The Indiana State Police at Pendleton investigated this matter.
They were assisted later by the U.S. Secret Service, the Indianapolis Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force and The Indiana Department of Correction.
“Parents and caretakers who violate the sanctity of trust by exploiting their own children, before they are even old enough to walk or speak, are cruel and vile monsters,” said John Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, in a news release. “The pursuit of those who choose to victimize children is some of the most important work our office does.”
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