Felony charges filed against Lyons man, a former school employee, for child exploitation and possession of child porn

An investigation into child exploitation and possession of child porn by a school employee moved right along after personnel from a social media app submitted info regarding suspicious activity to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who in turn shared the info with a detective from Bloomington who serves on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, resulting in the arrest of a Lyons man last Wednesday. Following the arrest, the school confirmed the suspect was no longer employed at the school. Earlier today, the Greene County Prosecutor filed criminal felony charges against the suspect in Greene Circuit Court.

Ethan Samuel Hoffeditz

Ethan Samuel Hoffeditz, 26, Lyons, was arrested by Detective Kevin Frank of the Bloomington Police Department last Wednesday, February 2.

Hoffeditz was booked into the Greene County Jail at 5:33 p.m. last Wednesday on preliminary charges of possession of child pornography and child exploitation. His bond was set at $25,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. Hoffeditz posted $2,500 and was released later the same day.

The preliminary charges were based on Det. Frank’s assertion that from October through December of 2021, Hoffeditz knowingly and intentionally managed and disseminated photographs, files and videos of sexual conduct by children under the age of 18, also by children under the age of 12, which is child exploitation, a Level 4 felony, and that Hoffeditz knowingly and intentionally possessed with the intent to view photographs, videos and files that depicted children under the age of 12 involved in sexual conduct, which is possession of child pornography, a Level 5 felony. Det. Frank said the content of these items lacked any serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

The investigation into these allegations began on Thursday, January 20. Det. Frank is affiliated with the task force known as the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) and on January 20, a complaint was forwarded to him from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

NCMEC had gotten a cyber tip on December 31 from MediaLab/Kik which is located in Santa Monica, Calif. For those of us not familiar with their app, Kik is a freeware instant messaging mobile application. After a user registers a username, Kik uses data plans from smartphones or WiFi to transmit and receive messages, photos, videos, sketches, mobile web pages and other content. The application does not employ end-to-end encryption and the company does log the IP addresses of its users.

When Kik submitted the complaint to NCMEC, the incident was classified as child pornography. Through their chat logs, they identified a user that was uploading and sharing items with another user or group of users. They shared the suspect’s email address as ‘ehoffeditz1995 at gmail.com’ and the suspect’s screen or username as “notme9876”. They also provided the IP address for the suspect which was the same IP address the suspect used to view as well as upload and share the suspicious items.

Det. Frank said NCMEC provided him with several files that had been uploaded or shared or viewed by the suspect – all viewed, shared or uploaded during November and December. NCMEC had identified the suspect’s IP address as being one governed by Comcast Cable, possibly being used in or near Bloomington.

Det. Frank reported he was able to view around 40 suspicious and explicit files that have become evidence. They contained pictures, images and videos of several males and females under the age of 18 performing sexual acts and conduct. They also contained images, files or videos of children exposing their anus areas, genital areas and bare breasts and showed them performing sexual acts on adults.

The same day as he received the complaint, Det. Frank submitted information requesting a search warrant to a Monroe County Circuit Court Judge for information from Comcast Cable regarding the IP address of the suspect. The next day, he submitted information requesting a search warrant to a Monroe County Circuit Court Judge for information from Google Legal Investigative Support regarding the suspect’s email address. Both requests were granted and the warrants issued.

By January 24, Comcast Cable had provided the information on the IP address which was registered to a man who resides on Brown Street in Lyons. Det. Frank then determined that the suspect, then identified as Ethan Hoffeditz, also resides at that residence. More information was then gleaned from BMV records including his driver’s license info, vehicle registration and a description of the vehicle he drives.

On January 31, Google provided information regarding the suspect’s email address, identifying the owner as Ethan Hoffeditz, and provided information on his credit card information.

In addition, with the information provided by Google regarding the email address, Det. Frank located what he called a significant amount of information and that it contained information regarding a school such as bulletins Hoffeditz had made in connection with his employment along with notes and tasks for his then-current employment.

In the information provided in a lengthy probable cause affidavit, Det. Frank does not name Hoffeditz’s employer. However, it is well-known locally that Hoffeditz was employed by White River Valley School District.    

By January 31, after determining Hoffeditz resided in Lyons, Det. Frank requested a search warrant from Greene Circuit Court to search the residence in Lyons. The warrant was approved by Judge Erik Allen.

Last Wednesday, February 2, Det. Allen said Hoffeditz was located and advised of his Miranda Rights as well as some information about the investigation including the Kik account and that the detective had evidence that he’d been looking at child porn and explicit material.

According to Det. Frank, Hoffeditz said he knew what the detective was talking about and admitted viewing the material. He allegedly said he knew what he did was wrong and that he’d never do it again. He allegedly said he liked older girls but he admitted viewing explicit material involving very young children.

Det. Frank reported that he told Hoffeditz that he knew about Hoffeditz viewing a video of toddlers involved in sexual activity and Hoffeditz allegedly said he knew the video Det. Frank was talking about. Hoffeditz allegedly said he gets sexual gratification from the videos. Later on, Hoffeditz allegedly said he had a problem and that he’d been viewing child pornography for a few months.

During the conversation with Det. Frank, which was recorded, Hoffeditz allegedly talked about receiving and requesting information from other people in the chat groups on Kik, and then sometimes sending it to others in different chat groups – therefore he was distributing child pornography.

When Hoffeditz’s cell phone was seized, Hoffeditz allegedly told Det. Frank that there would be child porn located on his phone and he showed the detective where it was on the phone, opening several images and videos for the detective. He also gave the detective the passcode to a locked app that contained child porn.

Hoffeditz’s vehicle was searched – no items of evidence found. The residence on Brown Street in Lyons was searched by Det. Frank along with other detectives. The only item of evidence taken from the home was Hoffeditz’s computer.

Hoffeditz was taken into custody and booked into jail, then when he appeared on the jail log issued the next morning, GreeneStreets contacted WRV Superintendent Robert Hacker who confirmed the school had been made aware of the situation on Wednesday and on Thursday morning, he issued a statement.

“On the evening of February 2, 2022, White River Valley School District was made aware of allegations and criminal charges against a non-certified employee of the school district,” said Hacker.

“There is no higher priority of the school district than the safety and well-being of its students. Accordingly, the individual in question no longer is employed by the district and has no access to the school district’s students or facilities. 

“Because this matter remains under investigation, WRV is unable to comment further on the specific allegations at this time.”

Earlier today, Monday, February 7, Greene County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtsclaw filed a criminal case against Hoffeditz in Greene Circuit Court, on charges of:

• Child exploitation with an aggravating factor, a Level 4 felony, and

• Possession of child pornography with an aggravating factor, a Level 5 felony.

The charges were approved by Circuit Judge Erik Allen.

Hoffeditz is scheduled to appear in Circuit Court for his initial hearing on Monday afternoon, February 14.