A man who possessed child pornography pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Austin Marek, age 22, from Anamosa, Iowa, was convicted of one count of possession of child pornography. At the plea hearing, Marek admitted that, in 2016, he knowingly possessed child pornography, including one or more depictions of prepubescent children.
Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Marek was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Marek faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $5,100 in special assessments, and supervised release for 5 years to life following any imprisonment.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
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 18-34.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
