INDIANAPOLIS – Joshua Ray Vestal, 40, of Bloomington, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a child.
According to court documents, on September 5, 2022, Joshua Vestal forced a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct with him, and Vestal filmed the conduct with his cell phone. At the time the video was recorded, the child victim, who was 14, was under Vestal’s care, custody, or control.
A mother’s intuition and identification of a man’s tattoo resulted in his arrest for exploiting her 14-year-old child.
According to court records, Joshua Vestal had lived with the mother and child since his release from prison in January 2022. In September, the mother suspected “something was wrong,” so she went through Vestal’s phone.
She found two nude photographs of her daughter that were taken inside of her home. She also found a video of her daughter being touched.
She could identify who was touching her daughter by the tattoo on Vestal’s forearm.
She found videos of Vestal performing sexual acts on her daughter. Vestal’s face, along with his tattoos, were pictured in the videos. One of the videos was dated September 5, 2022.
In the video, the girl calls out Vestal’s nickname, Bitty.
She sent the images and video to her phone to preserve the evidence and then confronted Vestal about what she found.
When she confronted Vestal, he submerged their cell phone in a toilet. Vestal then performed a factory reset on his cell phone and took out the SIM card to erase the digital evidence.
However, when the mother obtained a new phone, she found the video of Vestal sexually abusing the child synced to their electronic account, and she reported it to the police.
Police attempted to find Vestal, but he had fled in the woman’s car. They arrested him the next day when he returned to the apartment.
Vestal denied the allegations and said it was not him in the video. He told police he makes anime porn with real-life characteristics. He then asked for an attorney, and the questioning stopped.
Vestal was arrested on charges of child exploitation, sexual misconduct with a minor, and possession of child pornography.
“Everyone deserves a childhood free from sexual abuse, and it is up to us as adults to do all we can to protect children. This defendant not only sexually abused a vulnerable child entrusted in his care, he then attempted to conceal his heinous acts by destroying the evidence,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana “The serious sentence imposed in this case will ensure that children are protected from this predator for several decades to come. I commend the Bloomington Police Department, FBI, Indiana State Police, and state and federal prosecutors for stopping the abuse of this child, and preventing the abuse of others who may have fallen within his grasp in the future.”
“Indiana State Police investigators work diligently every day, all across Indiana, and in close collaboration with its law enforcement partners, to help bring to justice those who seek to perpetuate the victimization of children”, said Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas G. Carter.
The FBI investigated this case with valuable assistance from the Bloomington Police Department, Indiana State Police, and the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew P. Brookman imposed the sentence. Judge Brookman also ordered that Vestal be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for life following his release from federal prison and pay $10,000 in restitution to the child victim. Vestal is also required to register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or attends school for the rest of his life.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant United States Attorney Kyle M. Sawa, who prosecuted this case.
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 locate better, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
