FLINT, Mich. – A 42-year-old from Burton will spend the next 40 years behind bars for sexually exploiting children.
Nicholas Dunn was sentenced Tuesday, Aug. 20, after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He will also have five years of supervised release following his prison sentence.
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The sentencing and convictions stem from a federal investigation that uncovered a child pornography operation and led to the arrest of Dunn and three others in Genesee County.
How he got caught
According to authorities, an uncovered Homeland Security Investigations agent created a profile in December 2022 on an encrypted instant messaging application, where he acted as an adult with access to a child. While using the app, the agent said one user -- later determined to be Preston Creed-Boehm -- had shared child pornography with the agent.
According to a criminal complaint, Creed-Boehm then described to the undercover agent how he sexually abused children and shared videos of child pornography and links to additional child pornography images that had been stored online.
“Creed-Boehm also referred to himself as a ‘pedo,’ which I know to be a commonly used term for a pedophile among people with a sexual interest in children,” the agent wrote in the complaint.
Search warrant at Creed-Boehm’s home
Officials arrested Creed-Boehm and searched his home, where they reportedly found his cell phone still logged into the account that had been used to chat with the undercover agent.
The criminal complaint said law enforcement found hundreds of videos of child pornography on his phone. Creed-Boehm reportedly told authorities that a photo of a young girl was taken at Dunn’s home while both Dunn and Joshua Buren Hippensteel were present.
According to court records, officials found a conversation between Creed-Boehm and Hippensteel in which they discussed sexual acts with a young girl.
Search warrant reveals abuse scheme
Law enforcement then searched the Burton home of Dunn, while he and Hippensteel were both present.
Authorities said the search revealed Dunn’s extended sexual abuse of five minor children, including grooming, sexual acts and the production of additional child pornography. Several child pornography videos and images at the home allegedly included Creed-Boehm.
Police said four children -- ages 14, 10, 10 and 5 -- were being sexually abused inside the home.
During the search, officials said they found evidence of both men sexually abusing the same young girl who had been seen on Creed-Boehm’s cellphone.
January 2023: 3 men in Genesee County accused of exploiting young girls in child pornography operation
During a separate interview, a woman told police that she had seen a video of Dunn sexually abusing the girl. A witness told law enforcement Dunn had “substantial quantities of child pornography.”
Genesee County Sheriff Christopher Swanson said the adults would groom, drug and exploit the children to monetize their sexual acts and that they fed THC-laced gummies to the children so they couldn’t fight back against the abuse.
“They would feed these gummies to the 10-year-olds,” Swanson said at the time. “They would get them so drugged up that they would take advantage of them. They would be unable to defend themselves even if they wanted to.”
May 2023: 4 arrested in Genesee County after young kids given THC gummies, exploited for child porn
Dunn was also accused in January 2021 of sexually assaulting a young girl. She told authorities that he had abused her between the ages of 9 and 12 years old.
Charges, sentencing
In 2022, Dunn was charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of child sexually abusive activity, and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in federal prison, followed by five years of federal supervised release.
The charges against Creed-Boehm and Hippensteel are still pending.
Creed-Boehm and Hippensteel have both been charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. Creed-Boehm has also been charged with distribution and possession of child pornography.
