David Wyler, Carmel, has pled guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography and will serve two years of probation with a suspended jail sentence. Three other felony counts of possession of child pornography were dismissed as a part of a plea bargain struck between Wyler, his attorney Bruce Boje, and Hamilton County Deputy Prosecutor Rachel Jefferson.
Wyler
Wyler, a Carmel resident and retired Hamilton County Sheriff Deputy, served one day in jail following his arrest in August on five felony counts of Possession of Child Pornography after the Hamilton County Child Exploitation Task Force received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The report indicated on March 22 a person had uploaded two images of unclothed children to Pinterest. Information provided by Pinterest indicated the username was “davidwyler1954.” Pinterest also supplied investigators with several IP addresses that had been used to access the Pinterest account.
According to police, some of the IP addresses appeared to geolocate to Hamilton County. According to a Carmel Police Department detective, further investigation showed that David Wyler living on Goldfinch Drive in Carmel, and that his year of birth is 1954.
During an interview with police, Wyler admitted to having multiple boards on Pinterest, and some of his boards were named Young Boys, Young Girls, Girls and Boys. During the interview, Wyler told investigators that he had last viewed images of children with uncovered genitals within the last two weeks.
Police also found multiple images of nude prepubescent children on Wyler’s phone.
According to court documents, Wyler will not serve any jail time if he successfully completes the terms of his probation.
Wyler’s sentence seemed lenient to some throughout the community.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Lee Buckingham did not respond prior to press time to the Reporter’s questions regarding the plea agreement and sentencing.
When asked about the sentencing, Carmel Police Chief Jim Barlow did not comment; however, stated, “It is our role as law enforcement officers to thoroughly investigate all crimes. It is the prosecutor and court’s responsibility to determine the appropriate sentencing.”