IMPD sergeant charged in federal court with distribution of child pornography

INDIANAPOLIS – A federal grand jury has indicted an IMPD sergeant accused of distributing child pornography.

Javed Richards is charged with five counts of distributing child sexual abuse material and one count of possession of child sexual abuse material. He will appear in federal court on October 10.

REGARD | Additional charges filed against IMPD Sgt. accused of distributing child pornography

Additional charges filed against IMPD Sgt. accused of distributing child pornography

According to the indictment, Richards is said to have distributed at least five videos of minors under the age of 12 engaging in sexually explicit behavior via Kik Messenger.

Richards is also accused of having numerous images and videos containing child abuse material on his iCloud account.

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IMPD has suspended Sergeant Richards and a dismissal recommendation to the IMPD Civilian Police Merit Board is pending.

The FBI and the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force are investigating this case in collaboration with IMPD.

If convicted, Richards faces up to 20 years in prison.