Loogootee Man Arrested for Child Sex Abuse Material Involving Bestiality

Trevor Moffatt, 32, of Loogootee was taken into custody March 31 after Indiana State Police detectives executed a residential search warrant and seized electronic devices containing child sexual abuse material. He now faces one count of possession of child sex abuse material depicting bestiality, a Level 5 felony under Indiana law carrying a sentencing range of one to six years in prison.

The investigation traces back to February 2026, when ISP Detective Robert Whyte of the Jasper District received a cyber tip routed through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip, submitted by a social media or cloud-based application, alleged a user had been uploading child sex abuse material. Working through the Martin County Prosecutor's Office, Whyte obtained legal process to identify the suspect and secured a residential search warrant, which was executed with assistance from the Loogootee Police Department. Following an interview with investigators, Moffatt was placed under arrest and transported to the Martin County Sheriff's Department. Forensic examinations of the seized devices are ongoing, and ISP has indicated additional charges are pending.

The arrest is the fourth in a string of child exploitation cases connected to the ISP Jasper District over the past six months. In October 2025, Huntingburg Police working with the ICAC Task Force arrested 19-year-old Eli J. Lehmkuhler of Jasper on Level 4 and Level 5 felony child exploitation charges after a cyber tip from the MediaLab/Kik platform. That same month, on October 21, 51-year-old Roy E. Stearns of Holland was arrested after a Google-generated NCMEC cyber tip flagged his uploads. In November 2025, 27-year-old Keyen R. Reutepohler of Jasper was charged with nine counts of felony child exploitation and three misdemeanor counts of distributing obscene matter following another platform-generated tip.

Statewide, Indiana State Police arrested 499 individuals for crimes against children in 2025 and rescued 126 children from ongoing abuse. The Indiana ICAC Task Force received 29,635 cyber tips in 2025, a 38% increase over the prior year, and had already logged nearly 3,000 additional tips in early 2026.

That volume arrives against a backdrop of uneven cooperation from the platforms generating those tips. ISP Superintendent Anthony Scott has been direct about the gap: "They just don't reply, sometimes even with a court order," he said of major social media companies, contrasting them with telecom providers who generally work with law enforcement. His remarks echo a legislative push at the Indiana Statehouse to restrict minors' access to social media, a proposal that gained renewed urgency following the death of Hailey Buzbee, a Fishers teenager killed after being lured online by a predator. Governor Mike Braun has called for technology companies to take greater responsibility for child safety on their platforms and to strengthen parental controls.

Locally, both the Dubois County Prosecutor's Office and the Jasper Police Department are affiliated members of Indiana's ICAC Task Force and have completed specialized training in internet crimes against children investigations. Nationally, ICAC task forces conducted approximately 203,467 investigations in fiscal year 2024, arresting more than 12,600 offenders across a network of 4,500 federal, state, and local agencies supported by $39.9 million in federal funding.

Suspected child exploitation activity can be reported through the Indiana State Police ICAC website or directly to the NCMEC CyberTipline. Parents who notice warning signs in their children, including sudden secrecy around devices, unexplained gifts or money from unknown contacts, or withdrawal after online interactions, are encouraged to contact a school resource officer or the Dubois County Prosecutor's Office as a first step. Online grooming frequently begins on mainstream apps and gaming platforms weeks before any explicit contact occurs, making early intervention critical. Indiana law permits parents to review device activity for minor children, and ISP investigators have consistently said that parental reporting remains one of the most reliable ways cases like Moffatt's come to their attention in the first place.