Kline gets 43 years in child porn, exploitation case

Jul. 27—PERU — Kegan Kline, a Miami County man who plead guilty in March to 25 counts related to child pornography and exploitation has now been sentenced to 43 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, 40 of which will be executed in prison.

The sentencing came at the end of an over eight-hour hearing Thursday inside Miami County Superior Court 1.

Kline, clad in an orange jumpsuit and sitting next to his attorneys Bill Berkshire and Eric David Huneryager, appeared mostly expressionless during the majority of Thursday's hearing, including when Judge Timothy Spahr rendered his decision.

But it was during a written statement that Kline read to the court that the 29-year-old became emotional.

"I take full responsibility for my actions," Kline stated, wiping away tears. "... It was selfish. I'm truly sorry."

Kline added that he knew his actions were wrong, but he said he was depressed at the time, citing molestation as a child and an abusive father as reasons for that depression.

"I tell you that not as an excuse but to explain the person I've become today," Kline noted.

Kline was initially arrested in August 2020 after police launched an investigation that reportedly revealed he was using social media platforms, namely Snapchat, Instagram and Kik Messenger, to speak with underage females, according to court records.

Kline reportedly conversed with those females via a fake social media profile known as "anthony_shots" and one also known as "Emily Ann," court records noted.

During an interview with police, Kline reportedly confessed he did create the profiles, adding that he would often contact girls he knew and some he did not.

Along with conversing with the juvenile females, Kline told police he was also sent around "100 sexual pictures" from girls ranging in age from 15 to 17 years of age, a probable cause affidavit stated.

And during Thursday's sentencing, the prosecution brought forth at least two witnesses to back up those accusations.

During an hour-long testimony, Indiana State Police Commander Christopher Cecil told the court he became involved in the case against Kline when he was asked to conduct forensics on seven of Kline's devices that were seized during a warranted search on his Miami County property in February 2017.

On those devices, per Cecil, there were thousands of messages and conversations between Kline — posed as "Emily Ann" and "Anthony Shots" — and several juvenile females believed to be between the ages of 12 to 18.

And each of Kline's false profiles would have their own persona, Cecil added, noting that "Emily Ann" would often appear as an "unsure" and "naive," teenager, while "Anthony Shots" appeared "well-traveled" "attractive" and "wealthy."

But none of those personas were real, Cecil added, though he testified that Kline did use pictures of real people without their permission.

Cecil also told the court he believed once Kline was able to get the girls to trust him, Kline was then able to turn the conversations sexually explicit.

"He (Kline) would try to get sympathy from the girls," Cecil said, noting that Kline would often tell the girls that his family was dead or that he had medical issues in an attempt to do that. "... Convince them to share their own pictures. ... This is pure grooming."

Along with the conversations and pictures, Cecil noted there were also videos that Kline would send to other individuals online through a Dropbox account, mainly photos depicting children as young as 4 years old being forced to participate in explicit sexual acts.

ISP Det. David Divo also testified during Thursday's sentencing, and he told the court he became the lead detective in the case in April 2020.

Like Cecil, Divo testified he examined Kline's devices removed from his residence in February 2017, and he also had an opportunity to interview Kline in 2020 about what was found on those devices.

Divo stated that during that 2020 interview, Kline said he was "lonely" when he created the profiles but that 2017 was a "wake up" call and that he was "done with child pornography."

Kline also reportedly told Divo that he at first denied to authorities he had created the profiles because he thought he could "get away with it," Divo testified Thursday.

Both Cecil and Divo told the court that authorities were eventually able to identify and locate at least 11 juvenile females that Kline reportedly had conversations with, though they argued there were several more that will likely never be located.

And it's those victims, along with the countless other reported ones, that Miami County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Courtney Alwine said is the real tragedy in the case.

During her closing arguments, Alwine read three victim impact statements, two from women who reportedly had online conversations with Kline and one from Vincent Kowalski, an Alaskan police officer whose image was used as part of the "Anthony Shots" profile.

"This person made my trauma worse," Alwine told the court, reading from one of the letters.

"He groomed me," Alwine stated, as she openly read another letter to the court. "It's not fair ... to live in fear like this."

After she finished reading the letters, Alwine then told the court that Kline knew exactly what he was doing when he conversed with the girls.

"Kegan Kline used others for his sexual pleasure," Alwine told the court. "... He has no character, your honor. This is not a man. This is someone who's made children his prey. Kegan Kline is a master manipulator.

"It is our duty to protect the children," Alwine added. "It is our duty to protect the victims that he's already harmed."

Kline, who will also have to register as a sex offender for life, plans to file an appeal.

Alwine said after the judge's decision Thursday that she was "incredibly proud" of the work done on the case.

"This is definitely not a one-man show," she said. "This is a team effort. It is really important, days like today, being able to provide justice for the innumerable victims that Kegan Kline impacted. To be their voice today, they needed to be heard.

"I think the judge took their comments under consideration today," Alwine continued. "(I) can't really say why it took three years to arrest Kline. What matters is that we did. When we got a hold of him in 2020, we weren't letting go."