As a self-proclaimed Christian with a wife and seven children, Michael Deckinga lived an outwardly normal life in Dyer while working as a marketing executive for a Dyer seminary school.
In private, federal prosecutors alleged he traded child porn online on the Kik app for at least five years and had sexually explicit conversations online with at least a dozen minors.
It was “a tale of two personas,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Morgan wrote in recent court filings.
Deckinga, 42, pleaded guilty in January to distribution of child pornography. His sentencing hearing is scheduled at the U.S. District Courthouse in Hammond on Monday.
Morgan is asking a federal judge to sentence him to 19 years, plus an additional 20 years on supervised release, documents show. He would be ordered to repay $47,000 to seven victims, and a $5,000 court assessment.
His defense lawyer Peter Boyles is asking for five years, arguing his client only traded child porn in the app to be “allowed into certain chat groups.” He stated Deckinga never molested a child, or personally forced a minor to take nude pictures or videos.
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Authorities are alleging Deckinga’s actions went back at least to September 2020 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) got their first “CyberTip” from a Kik account. Morgan also noted Deckinga sent child porn from June 2024 to November 2024 — months before the timeline in his formal charges.
A representative from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said they generally forward all CyberTips to the “to the relevant law enforcement agency.”
U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Morgan Swistek declined comment when asked if the office ever opened an investigation into Deckinga in 2020. A representative from Indiana State Police was out of the office.
Eventually, Deckinga had up to 10 accounts, as the social media service attempted to play whack-a-mole. Federal charges span from November 2024 to May 2025.
The federal investigation started after NCMEC got a slew of cybertips — or online flags — in June 2025.
Investigators found over 600 images — with some including babies and toddlers “portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence,” Morgan wrote. Deckinga himself uploaded pictures of himself partially nude in a vehicle.
His actions were so alarming, she added, that a defense expert wrote he “should not have access to the internet, or be left unsupervised with children, or adults.”
Typically, Deckinga sent child porn while at home, Morgan wrote. With usernames “dantravels4work” and “danieltraveler,” he used work trips to Canada and Florida to do the same.
Prosecutors alleged he had sexual conversations with the minors and two other young women with children.
“Lemme see your (bottom), babe,” he wrote in one message. “Would have loved to (have sex with) you.”
Deckinga also wrote that he was attracted to his nieces. One user asked if he “spied” on them.
“No,” he wrote. “But, pool parties are fun.”
Recommended court restrictions would include seizing his cell phone and barring him from accessing the internet. With seven children aged 15 and younger, those conditions would be virtually impossible to follow as a free man, Morgan wrote.
The arrest shocked neighbors. Deckinga’s block was “home to dozens of children, and the proximity made the situation deeply personal for every family here,” one man wrote in a submitted letter.
Another woman noted in retrospect that she opted not to hire Deckinga’s daughter as a babysitter for her children before his indictment, since she felt they were too young to be watched by a teenager.
Many wrote they didn’t know Deckinga personally, but wanted him out of the neighborhood. Several took issue with those who wrote support letters for him.
The number of letters are “absolutely horrifying,” one woman wrote. “I do NOT believe the individuals who are in support of Mr. Deckinga and his so called ‘integrity,’ ‘remorse,’ and ‘religious beliefs’ hold any merit to the charges brought before him.”
Boyles noted Deckinga’s wife, friends and many in his church continued to be supportive.
His arrest “doesn’t make sense,” his wife wrote. “We are confused, broken and lost. The first phone call came from Mike, he said, “I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I didn’t touch our kids or anyone.”
“The kids and I miss him every minute of every day and want him home,” she later wrote.
Deckinga worked for Mid America Reformed Seminary for nearly a decade before his August 2025 arrest. Since then, he has tried “overcoming his pornography addiction,” Boyles wrote.
In a video message posted online Aug. 25, 2025, without naming Deckinga, Mid-America Reformed Seminary President Alan Strange, a longtime faculty member, said that a vice president of advancement had been terminated.
The seminary school began a search for a replacement, he said in the video, adding he could not comment on the legal case. The school had informed faculty, staff, students, alumni, supporters and its board.
We “abhor these sorts of sins and crimes and stand with all its victims, praying and working for justice and peace in cooperation with legal authorities,” he said.
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The indictment was first reported by the Roys Report. The outlet reported that federal agents also executed a search warrant at the school.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.