'Disgusting' case of child porn nets convict 20 years in prison

LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Two years after local investigators discovered thousands of photos and videos of child pornography on Blake Hume Graham's phone, his defense team asked the court to reduce his sentence to home detention and long-term probation.

Tippecanoe County Superior Court 2 Judge Steve Meyer on Wednesday evaluated a myriad of evidence attesting to Graham's character, including Graham pleading guilty to the crimes, letters from friends and family, mental health reports and his previous employment as an emergency medical technician.

But ultimately, Meyer determined that the crimes Graham committed outweighed any positive deed he had done in the past to warrant such a reduction.

Meyer sentenced Graham to serve a 20-year prison sentence, for child exploitation and three counts of possession of child pornography with an aggravating factor. Twelve years must be served in a correction facility while the last eight can be served as probation.

Graham must also register as a sex offender.

"This is a very disgusting and disturbing case," Meyer said.

Local authorities became aware of Graham in December 2019, after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted Tippecanoe County investigators that Graham had posted two child pornography images online.

Investigators spent almost two years looking into Graham before serving a warrant to search his residence and arrest him.

During the evidential portion of the sentencing hearing, state prosecutor Kaweme Ng'andwe revealed that Graham had over 6,500 files of child pornography on his Samsung phone.

Ng'andwe called Matt Feterick, the digital forensic analyst and member of the Tippecanoe County government high-tech crime unit who worked on the case, to the stand to testify against Graham during the sentencing hearing.

Feterick told the court that the number of files found on Graham's device far exceed 6,500 files. Investigators stopped counting the files once they hit 6,500, believing that they had enough evidence to convict Graham on multiple charges of possession of child pornography.

Investigators had also found remnants of files on one of Graham's laptops that had been seized after investigators searched the residence via a warrant.

While searching the laptop, investigators found that Graham had transferred several videos of child pornography from his computer to a USB hard drive, which they did not find during the search.

Although investigators could not find the USB drive, the names of the transfer files could still be seen on the computer. Several of the file names included the ages of the children and the sexual abuse inflicted on the children.

Some of the file names indicated that children were as young as 2 years old, Feterick said.

Feterick told the court the Tippecanoe County high-tech crime unit had never seen a case with such a high number of victims. After investigators received the files, they sent the collection to an FBI national database to determine the number of known victims in the files.

According to Feterick, investigators were told that Graham contained files with around 820 known victims of sexual abuse.

Graham's defense team, James Vovles and Jennifer Lukemeyer, argued that during this period of his life, Graham was in a dark place and had developed an addiction to pornography.

And it was only after becoming bored of adult pornography that he then consumed this type of porn.

The defense team also noted that Graham had been receiving therapy since his arrest, and that his physician believed that Graham would not relapse by consuming that type of porn anymore.

Graham also read a letter to the judge expressing his remorse for the crimes that he committed.

"I know some people are only sorry because they got caught. I'm sorry that it ever happened to begin with," Graham said, as he got emotional while speaking to the judge.

"I express my remorse to everyone here…. I have never meant to victimize anyone.

"But by looking at it, I have added to their victimization."

He ended his letter by telling the judge and those in attendance, "I am at peace knowing that I lived a good life."

After Meyer heard from both sides regarding their sentencing argument, taking into account the defense's argument, but decided against significantly reducing Graham's sentence.

"I don't think the people that wrote those letters about you would hold the same opinions if they saw the evidence and knew the facts of the case," Meyer told Graham.

Meyer told Graham that if he was as remorseful as he claimed, Graham would have stopped after downloading one file, not after more than 6,500.

The judge also read to the court some of Graham's text messages, which were sent prior to the initial investigation in 2019.

"My sweet spot is two- to twelve-year-olds. Under 6 years. Hardcore," read one of Graham's text messages.

After Meyer sentenced Graham to 20 years in prison, Graham asked if he could have a moment with his parents before heading to the county jail.

Meyer said that it was up to bailiffs.

The bailiffs, instead, put Graham in handcuffs and walked him out of the courtroom.

Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter at 1NoePadilla.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: 'Disgusting' case of child porn nets convict 20 years in prison

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