Southern District of Indiana | Mikell Shepard, Connersville Photographer and Proprietor of “Shepard Photography” and “Boudoir by Shepard” Charged with A number of Federal Child Exploitation Crimes

INDIANAPOLIS- Mikell Shepard, age 22, of Connersville, Indiana, has been charged by federal grievance with three counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Child and one rely of Possession of Child Pornography.

According to the prison grievance, on October 23, 2025, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Indianapolis acquired a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The report included investigative findings submitted by Google, which recognized content material in Shepard’s account believed to depict sexually express photos and movies of minor kids.

Google reviewed and flagged greater than 400 information allegedly displaying minors engaged in sexual acts, in addition to over 1,000 information depicting the lascivious exhibition of the genitals of minors.

On October 24, 2025, regulation enforcement executed a state search warrant at Shepard’s residence.  Investigators found sexually express photos and movies of minors allegedly produced by Shepard in each skilled and private settings, together with whereas babysitting. These photos reportedly embody each feminine and male kids, as younger as 9 months previous. The photos and movies date from as lately as October 2025, with some information from the summer time of 2024.

Publicly out there data lists Shepard because the proprietor of “Shepard Photography” and “Boudoir by Shepard.” His Facebook account advertises him as an expert photographer who “works well with families, children, and infants.”

Shepard has been identified to babysit a number of kids, and has photographed kids at a daycare, skating rink, and a gymnastics heart in or close to Connersville. Investigators imagine there could also be further victims.

If you imagine a baby might have been victimized by Mikell Shepard, please contact Fayette County/Connersville Police non-emergency dispatch at (765) 825-2111.

According to the Writ of Habeas Corpus Ad Prosequendum filed at present, Shepard can be transported from the Fayette County Jail to federal custody and can stay within the custody of the United States for all different obligatory proceedings on this case.  

Homeland Security Investigations, Indiana State Police, Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Connersville Police Department are investigating this case. Should Shepard be convicted, a federal district courtroom choose will decide any sentence after contemplating the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and different statutory elements.

U.S. Attorney Wheeler thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany J. Preston, who’s prosecuting this case.

This case was introduced as a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to fight the rising epidemic of kid sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and native assets to higher find, apprehend and prosecute people who exploit kids through the web, in addition to to establish and rescue victims.

A grievance is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed harmless till confirmed responsible past an affordable doubt in a courtroom of regulation.

###