Investigators: Photographer worked at Dublin skating rink

Investigators seek the public’s help in identifying more alleged victims of a photographer facing federal child exploitation charges. They say he took photos at Dublin Community Club and other venues.

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana announced Tuesday, Oct. 28, that 22-year-old Mikell Shepard of Connersville has been charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of child pornography.

Shepard has been known to babysit several children and has photographed kids at Dublin Community Club’s skating rink at 1764 Foundry Road in Cambridge City, at Busy Bee Daycare, and a gymnastics center in or near Connersville, the release said. His business names include Shepard Photography and Boudoir by Shepard.

Investigators believe there might be additional victims, the release said.

On Dublin Community Club’s Facebook page, board president Jimmy Lawrence announced Oct. 27 the board had been informed of the arrest and charges against “one of the members of our staff.”

“Our utmost priority is the safety of the children you entrust us with,” Lawrence wrote. “The individual will not be present on the property again.”

Shepard’s Facebook account advertises him as a professional photographer who “works well with families, children, and infants.”

According to the criminal complaint, on Oct. 23, Homeland Security Investigations Indianapolis received a report from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The report included investigative findings submitted by Google, which identified content in Shepard’s account believed to depict over 1,400 sexually explicit images and videos of minor children, the release said.

On Oct. 24, law enforcement executed a state search warrant at Shepard’s residence on Reid Street in Connersville. Investigators said in the release they discovered sexually explicit images and videos of minors allegedly produced by Shepard in both professional and personal settings, including while babysitting.

These images reportedly include both female and male children, as young as 9 months old. The images and videos date from as recently as October 2025, with some files from summer 2024.

According to the affidavit, when investigators told Shepard that Google had identified content in his account believed to be underage children, he said he has taken pictures of kids in states of undress through his photography business, but the children’s parents were present and signed a contract allowing him to take the pictures in advance.

Shepard also told police he dropped out of high school after completing ninth grade and subsequently worked at multiple fast-food establishments and warehouses, a local roller-skating rink and his stepfather’s contracting company, the affidavit said.

Shepard began studying photography and operating a self-owned photography business about two years ago. He previously worked out of a photo studio on Connersville’s Central Avenue, the affidavit said.

After being presented with more photos from what investigators called minor victims numbers one through eight, Shepard told investigators that he knew what he’d been doing was wrong, saying “I’ve been needing help for a long time,” the affidavit said.

He also apologized to kids, parents and law enforcement “for having to deal with this,” the affidavit said.

According to documents filed Oct. 28, Shepard will be transported from Fayette County Jail to federal custody and will remain in federal custody for all other necessary proceedings in this case.

Homeland Security Investigations, Indiana State Police, Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Connersville Police Department are investigating this case. A full forensic search of Shepard’s devices is ongoing, the affidavit said.

If Shepard is convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Shepard’s case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice launched in May 2006 to combat what it describes as a growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.