NEW ALBANY, Ind. — A southern Indiana man has received 25 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to child sexual abuse charges.
Jeffersonville-native Joseph Grant Flamion, 47, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child sexual abuse material. According to court documents, between 2021 and 2022, Flamion secretly recorded an underage child in places where he knew the child would be undressing or nude.
"[He] placed a hidden camera in the child's bathroom and bedroom and routinely held a cell phone camera or another device under the doors to record the child fully nude or undressing," authorities said.
Flamion reportedly had custody, care or supervisory control of the child, who was 13 and 14 years old at the time.
In his guilty plea, Flamion admitted that he created the recordings for his own sexual gratification, prosecutors said.
Court documents revealed that in October 2021, Flamion took the child on a vacation to Florida and used a hidden camera to record the child while they were in a hotel shower.
The minor and another witness learned of the secret recordings and reported Flamion to the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS). When DCS officials notified Flamion of what they had learned, he destroyed the hidden camera before it could be seized by law enforcement, officials said.
In July of 2022, the Jeffersonville Police Department conducted court-authorized searches of Flamion's home and seized numerous electronic devices, including a laptop which contained the secretly recorded videos of the victim. Authorities learned Flamion had searched the internet for topics on "hidden camera" and "real life cam."
Nude recordings of the victim were also found on Flamion's iPhone and a MicroSD card.
"All children deserve to live in a home that is a place of safety and love. This defendant used his proximity to a child to secretly invade their safety and dignity, sexually exploiting them for his own gratification," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Zachary Myers said. "Those who seek to sexually exploit children must be identified and held accountable for the trauma they inflict on victims and their families."
The judge has also ordered Flamion to pay $10,000 in restitution, $7,500 in fines and to register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works or goes to school.
After his 25-year federal prison sentence, Flamion will be on 15 years of supervised release.
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