INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man will spend the next 44 years in federal prison after he was found guilty of exploiting a child on Snapchat, despite already being a registered sex offender and on probation.
Sonny Applegate, 27, was sentenced to 44 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release to following 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, Applegate was convicted in 2020 of possession of child pornography. His four year prison sentence then was suspended to probation.
Despite being on probation, Applegate reoffended.
Between August 1 and Sept. 12, 2022, Applegate used Snapchat to communicate with an 11-year-old from Missouri. 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.
During a routine probation check, the phone being used to communicate with the child was located.
“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.”
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