Chakra Dasari, 34, Noblesville, has been sentenced to 121 months in federal prison for distributing and receiving child sexual abuse material.
According to court documents, in January of 2021, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers received information that Dasari had been using a cloud storage and file hosting application called Mega to store and exchange images of child sexual abuse. Dasari had sent the witness child sexual abuse material via Mega’s chat feature.
On May 11, 2021, investigators with the Indiana Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force executed a search warrant at Dasari’s Noblesville residence. Investigators located an Apple iPhone on Dasari’s person that held 17 video files and one image file of child sexual abuse material. The iPhone also contained Telegram social media messages in which Dasari received material from an unknown Telegram user depicting toddlers and infants being made to engage in sexually explicit conduct with adults. Dasari possessed this child sexual abuse material between June of 2020 and May of 2021.
Dasari made multiple false statements to investigators during a recorded interview, denying that he had ever sent or received sexually explicit images or videos of minors. Dasari stated to police that he only “might have said certain things (I’m) not proud of” during his conversations with another Mega user.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Zachary A. Myers and IMPD Chief Randal Taylor made the announcement.
“The defendant joined others online to share heinous images depicting the sexual abuse of babies and toddlers,” Myers said. “Those who are gratified by the sexual exploitation of the most vulnerable of victims are a tremendous danger to our communities. The outstanding investigators of the Indiana ICAC Task Force will continue to work tirelessly with our U.S. Attorney’s Office to identify these criminals and send them to prison, where our children are out of their reach.”
ICAC and IMPD investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge James P. Hanlon. As part of the sentence, Judge Hanlon ordered that Dasari be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 10 years following his release from federal prison. Dasari must also register as sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school, as required by law.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant United States Attorney Kristina M. Korobov who prosecuted this case.
This investigation was conducted by the ICAC Task Force, a partnership of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies led by the Indiana State Police. The Task Force is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting crimes involving the technology-facilitated sexual exploitation of children and the trafficking of child sexual abuse material. Each year, Indiana ICAC investigators evaluate thousands of tips, investigate hundreds of cases, and rescue dozens of children from ongoing sexual abuse.
In fiscal year 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, the Southern District of Indiana was second out of the 94 federal districts in the country for the number of child sexual exploitation cases prosecuted.
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 better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit justice.gov/psc.