COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum announced on December 6, 2018, Steven Horton, age 40, of Glenwood, was sentenced to 84 months in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose. The defendant pleaded guilty to accessing child pornography on July 24, 2018.
Operation Pacifier was an investigation conducted by the FBI into Playpen, a website on TOR hosted as hidden service. Playpen operated as a message board-type website where registered users would distribute and share images and videos of child pornography. Horton registered with Playpen on Oct. 27, 2014, and was actively logged into Playpen for over 21 hours between the registration date and Feb. 28, 2015.
This case was investigated by Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pottawattamie County Sheriff Department, and Glenwood Police Department.
The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
