Teaching assistant sentenced to more than 36 years for grooming and sexual exploitation of children

HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – A teaching assistant has been sentenced to more than 36 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child in Louisville.

According to court documents, 29-year-old Shawn Riedesel enticed and coerced at least three underage girls to produce and send sexually explicit images and videos between December 2021 and July 2022.

Documents say he also met at least one child in person for sex acts multiple times while he entered a teacher preparation program at Bellarmine University and lived in a dorm room in Louisville.

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Officials say a witness learned of inappropriate electronic communications between Riedesel and a 15-year-old Indiana girl through a school computer in late June 2022. The child allegedly told Riedesel she was 15, and she initially thought he was a 19-year-old boy. Officials explain that Riedesel used an end-to-end encrypted email program to communicate.

Indiana State Police were contacted to investigate. At that time, investigators reportedly learned that Riedesel had crossed state lines multiple times to have sexual encounters with the child, including over several days at an Indiana hotel, the home of the child’s parents in Indiana while they were away were and in a church. Investigators also learned that Riedesel picked up the child from her home in Indiana and took her across the state line to his dorm room in Louisville to work.

Officials say Riedesel was arrested on July 2, 2022, when he arrived to meet the child at her parents’ home. During a search of Riedesel’s iPhone, investigators reportedly found sexually explicit images of the child mounted in the shape of a heart on the wall in his dorm room.

Officials also say ISP collected an additional iPhone, an iPad and multiple computers and digital storage devices, which contained thousands of sexually explicit images and videos of children obtained online and images of Riedesel engaging in lewd acts with the victim.

“Indiana State Police detectives work diligently every day, across Indiana, and in close collaboration with its law enforcement partners, to help bring those who seek to perpetuate the victimization of children to justice,” said Indiana State Police Chief Douglas G. Carter State Police.

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The child later alleged that Riedesel forced her to view a “vast collection” of child sexual abuse material that he kept hidden on his computer, including data on the sexual abuse of prepubescent children and infants.

Officials further state that while staying at a hotel to have sex with the victim, Riedesel had a “shopping list” saved to his iPhone that included multiple sex-related items, coloring books and crayons.

Investigators also allegedly found sexually explicit conversations between Riedesel and other underage girls on his iPhone, including sexually explicit video calls with another underage girl that he had recorded engaging in sex acts.

“Pedophiles like this future teacher are using technology to find, groom and exploit our children – across the river and across the country,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “This time, investigators were able to access the digital evidence needed to identify additional victims and secure a serious federal prison sentence. However, many companies design their technology to make it impossible to conduct court-authorized searches, hampering our ability to save children and hold sexual predators accountable. Together with our law enforcement partners at the FBI and Indiana State Police, our office will continue to do everything we can to secure the necessary evidence and make our children safer by removing these heinous offenders from our communities.

“Protecting our children must be a priority – every child deserves an environment safe from exploitation and abuse,” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Herbert J. Stapleton. “Partnerships between the FBI and other agencies create effective responses to such heinous crimes to ensure offenders are held accountable and never hurt another innocent child.”

In addition to the sentence, Riedesel was ordered to pay $69,000 in restitution to his victims, followed by 25 years of supervised release. He must also register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works or goes to school.

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