52-year-old Steven Hughes was arrested in Millsboro on October 22, 2009 and indicted on November 9, 2009 on multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a child and dealing in child pornography.
The indictment alleges that Hughes possessed 18 images of a 6-year-old in sexually explicit poses and numerous other images of toddler-age females forced into sex acts with adult men.
Hughes was charged with distributing these images by publishing them online to any interested party, including undercover law enforcement agents involved in the investigation.
In total, the ongoing investigation revealed that Hughes maintained over 15,000 images of child exploitation, hundreds of which he created himself.
He pled guilty to 5 counts of sexual exploitation of a child on April 15, 2010.
Hughes is a former foster parent who operated a photography studio specializing in the photography of young children and also billed himself as a "Santa Claus" who would conduct home visits.
"People who create, possess, and distribute child pornography are predators," Attorney General Beau Biden stated. "The Delaware Child Predator Task Force will track them down, prosecute them and put them behind bars."
