Avery Dean Bodwell is charged with possession of child pornography
By SYDNEY KENT
A convicted sex offender from Ossian is facing up to 13 years in prison after local authorities received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in April.
Avery Dean Bodwell, 33, was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography, all Level 6 felonies. According to a probable cause affidavit, the cyber tip was transferred from a sergeant at the Fort Wayne Police Department.
Detectives reportedly learned on Nov. 2, 2022, a file flagged for child pornography was uploaded to Synchronoss Technologies, Inc., a cloud-based storage provider for Verizon. The description of the uploaded file depicted a woman and young child in a sexually-abusive incident. The phone number that uploaded the file belonged to Bodwell.
Multiple files found from Bodwell’s history contained images, some of them animated, of violent acts performed on children as young as infants.
At approximately 10:05 a.m. on June 8, members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, Ossian Police Department, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security executed a search of Bodwell’s home. A detective who reviewed his phone during the search immediately located files that depicted child sexual abuse.
Bodwell was transported to the Wells County Jail on preliminary charges of possession of child pornography, a Level 6 felony. He posted bail the same day.
On Nov. 6, four additional counts for possession of child pornography at a Level 6 felony were added. Two days later, a detective with the Wells County Sheriff’s Office attempted to serve Bodwell a warrant for the charges. Bodwell reportedly exited the property in a vehicle prior to the attempt.
Officers pulled Bodwell over on Ind. 1 soon after. The officer noted Bodwell refused to exit the vehicle at first, despite clear and repeated instruction. He was ultimately transported to the Wells County Jail where a pat-down revealed a paper with a list of phone numbers he intended to bring with him to the jail. However, he did not bring any identification.
Due to a previous conviction for attempted sexual exploitation of a minor in Utah, Bodwell is required to register as a sexual offender until January of 2028. Sex offenders are required to possess an ID at all times under Indiana Law, regardless of their designation.
On Monday, an additional case was added to Bodwell’s criminal history — one count of failure of a sex/violent offender to possess identification, a Class A Misdemeanor.
A warrant for Bodwell’s arrest for the additional charge is currently pending. A status hearing is scheduled for his initial case at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 12 in the Wells Superior Court.
sydney@news-banner.com
