A man who distributed and possessed child pornography was sentenced today to over 15 years in federal prison.
William Rolen, age 57, of New Hampton, Iowa, received the sentence after an April 26, 2019, guilty plea to one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Rolen also communicated with an undercover agent and planned to meet with a child and engage in sex acts, but he did not show up for the meetings.
Rolen was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Rolen was sentenced to 188 months’ imprisonment. Special assessments of $10,200 were imposed, and Rolen must also serve a 5-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 Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Police Department, the New Hampton Police Department, and the Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Office.
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.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 19-2014.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
