By: Vic Ryckaert
PERU, Ind. (Scripps News Indianapolis) — A judge on Thursday delayed Kegan Kline‘s sentencing hearing on charges of child exploitation and child pornography.
Deputies help Kegan Kline into a vehicle after his hearing on May 18. (Vic Ryckaert/WRTV)
Miami Circuit Court Judge Timothy P. Spahr granted the delay after Kline’s defense attorney Andrew Achey said his client needed time to review new evidence they received in the last 24 hours.
A new sentencing hearing was scheduled for July 27.
Miami County Deputy Prosecutor Courtney B. Alwine strongly objected to the continuance, calling it a delay tactic.
“Kegan Kline wants this to drag out as long as possible,” Alwine said. “There’s no reason we can’t move forward today.”
Investigators previously linked Kline to a bogus social media account tied to the killings of Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi. Kline was never charged in the deaths of the girls.
READ MORE: Kegan Kline Pleads Guilty in Child Porn Case
Kline wore an orange jail suit as he sat at the defense table in the Miami County Courthouse for Thursday’s hearing.
According to court records, investigators found explicit images of children during a search of Kline’s home in 2017.
He initially faced more than two dozen charges including child exploitation, possession of child pornography and obstruction of justice stemming from an investigation into the bogus social media profile “anthony_shots.”
Kegan Kline (Miami County Sheriff’s Office)
Kline, according to records, used the “anthony_shots” profile to interact with underage girls.
Police have linked the “anthony_shots” account to the investigation into the deaths of Libby German and Abby Williams in Delphi. Kline, however, has not been arrested or charged in connection with the Delphi homicides.
In October, Carroll County prosecutors charged Richard M. Allen with murder in the 2017 deaths of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14. The girls’ bodies were found on Valentine’s Day 2017 off a trail near the Monon High Bridge in Delphi.
Allen lived less than a mile from the school Libby and Abby attended when they were killed.
Investigators say marks on a single unspent bullet found near the girls’ bodies tie Richard Allen to the killings, according to a probable cause affidavit.
This story was originally published on May 18, 2023, by WRTV in Indianapolis, an E.W. Scripps Company.
