Michael Cottrell, age 43, of Reinbeck, Iowa, has been charged with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. The charges are contained in an Indictment unsealed on Aug. 27, 2015, in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.
The Indictment alleges that, between 2012 and 2014, Cottrell received and possessed child pornography.
If convicted, Cottrell faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of forty years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, a $200 special assessment, and at least five years and up to life on supervised release following any imprisonment.
Cottrell appeared for a detention hearing on Aug. 31, 2015, in federal court in Cedar Rapids and was released on bond. Cottrell’s next appearance for trial is set for Oct. 26, 2015.
As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office, and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
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 15-82.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
