GBI: Couple charged after 17-year-old girl sent “homemade” child porn to her fiancé

A couple is facing child abuse and exploitation charges after a 17-year-old Michigan girl sent pornographic images to her Georgia fiancé.

Shawn Ryan Budovic, 27 of Cartersville, was charged with one count computer pornography and four counts child exploitation, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He was booked into the Bartow County Jail on Tuesday and is expected to face additional felony charges.

His fiancé, 17-year-old Kayla White of Trenton, Mich., was charged with child abuse in the first degree.

The Bartow County Sheriff’s Office received information that Budovic could be in possession of child pornography, and requested assistance from the GBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations.

The three agencies executed a search warrant at Budovic’s home Tuesday morning where they found electronic devices containing “homemade” child pornography, according to the GBI. Further investigation determined images of a 3, 4 and 7 year old had been photographed and sent by Budovic’s fiancé in Michigan.

Brian Johnston, the Assistant GBI Special Agent in Charge, said “numerous” devices including cell phones and computers were collected. On-scene forensics were able to recover enough evidence to make an arrest, but the total number of files can’t be determined until a thorough investigation of every device.

HSI-Detroit and the Trenton Police Department were able to quickly arrest White and locate the three children in the photos, according to the GBI.

Anyone with information about this case or any other cases of child exploitation should contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Unit at 404-270-8870.

This investigation is part of an ongoing mission by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, part of the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit. The ICAC program works to identify those involved in the child pornography trade. It was created to combat the “increasing number of children and teenagers using the Internet, the proliferation of child pornography, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims,” according to the GBI.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 10:58 AM with the headline "GBI: Couple charged after 17-year-old girl sent “homemade” child porn to her fiancé."