Lafayette Man Tadd Buster Charged With Possessing Child Abuse Images

Tadd Araya Buster is facing fresh charges after a routine compliance check.

The Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s Office formally charged the 28-year-old Lafayette man after probation officers discovered illicit files during an October 22 inspection at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse, WLFI reported. Court filings show investigators found images of child sexual abuse, including material depicting an infant under the age of two, stored on the phone Buster handed over for a standard review.

The discovery follows a conviction for child exploitation in December 2024, for which Buster was on probation. Alongside the new possession counts, prosecutors allege he failed to register his address, telling the registry he was homeless.

The Mechanics of a Routine Compliance Check

In Buster’s case, the checkpoint occurred directly at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse, where probation officers searched his mobile device. That routine administrative action immediately surfaced the illegal files.

The material recovered included an infant under two years old among the obscene images depicting sexual conduct by a person who appears to be a child less than 18 years old. For a probationer already navigating court-ordered supervision following a child exploitation conviction, possessing such files triggers legal jeopardy.

Unresolved Questions and Address Registry Violations

Beyond the digital evidence recovered at the courthouse, investigators flagged a failure in tracking Buster’s physical whereabouts.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Buster failed to register his address, informing the registry that he was homeless. As the case moves forward through the Tippecanoe County court system, prosecutors will press both the new obscenity charges and the underlying probation violations, setting the stage for upcoming hearings on his continued detention.