courthouse
Office
165 Mary Street
Lawrenceburg, IN 47025
(812) 537-8884

High Tech Crimes Unit

 

The High-Tech Crime Unit Program (HTCU)

Created through legislation passed in 2021, the program is administered by the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, IPAC, for the purposes of assisting prosecuting attorneys in the investigation of, collection of evidence for, and prosecution of high-tech crimes. Ten regional units were selected in late 2021 with the units beginning operations at various points in 2022. The key service provided by an HTCU is the forensic extraction of electronic devices in the search for evidence — work that can only be accomplished with specialized tools and persistent training.

 

7th Judicial Circuit – Dearborn and Ohio Counties

In November 2021, the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council selected the Dearborn-Ohio Prosecuting Attorney's Office as one of ten offices to receive grant funding to establish a High-Tech Crime Unit (HTCU).  Based within a secure facility on Center Street in Lawrenceburg, Prosecuting Attorney Lynn Deddens’s HTCU is led by Norman Rodney Rimstidt and Sarah Kaffenberger. This unit serves Dearborn and Ohio Counties and nine nearby counties: Clark, Decatur, Floyd, Franklin, Jefferson, Jennings, Ripley, Scott, and Switzerland. Evolving from the prosecuting attorney’s Special Crimes Unit and staffed only by Rimstidt and Kaffenberger, the unit has a growing connection to Ivy Tech Community College’s campus in Lawrenceburg.

 

Statewide Numbers

During 2022 and 2023 the units assisted on over 4500 cases (a rough approximation for the number of offenders affected by their work) with over 7500 devices analyzed statewide. The majority of these devices were smartphones, but other items include surveillance systems and cloud storage.

 

For additional information:

https://www.in.gov/ipac/high-tech-crime-unit-program/