A man who sexually exploited two children was sentenced May 27, 2014, to 40 years in federal prison.
Nicholas Appleby, age 32, of Oxford Junction, Iowa, received the sentence after a Dec. 26, 2013, guilty plea to one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography. At the guilty plea hearing, Appleby admitted that, in 2011 and 2012, he persuaded, induced, and enticed two female minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of this conduct. Defendant also admitted to possessing pornographic images of these minors.
Appleby was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Appleby was sentenced to 480 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $200 was imposed, and Appleby must also serve a 20-year term of supervised release. He must comply with all sex offender registration and public notification requirements.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Jones County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources."
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 13-36.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
