Cedar Rapids Man Sentenced to Over 11 Years in Federal Prison for Accessing Child Pornography

A man who participated in an online chat group where adult men made requests to a 13-year-old girl for sexually explicit photos and videos was sentenced November 29, 2023, to more than 11 years in federal prison.

Jason Dean Anderson, age 50, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 16, 2023 guilty plea to one count of accessing child pornography including a depiction involving a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.

Information at the sentencing hearing showed that during 2021 and 2022, Anderson participated in a Snapchat group where men would sexually exploit a 13‑year-old girl.  Anderson admitted to requesting that the girl take and post sexually explicit depictions of herself.  Officers seized Anderson’s cell phone and found several videos and photos of child pornography, including depictions of adults sexually abusing infants.  Anderson admitted that he was interested in teenagers and that he had chatted with some children online.  Anderson had previously been encountered by law enforcement in 2012 after it was discovered that he was having sexually explicit conversations online with a seventeen‑year‑old girl who lived in a facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities.  Anderson had been communicating with the seventeen‑year‑old for approximately two years and had requested that she send him sexually explicit pictures of herself.

Anderson was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Anderson was sentenced to 135 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $5,100 in special assessments.  He must also serve a five‑year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Anderson is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by former Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Dupuich and Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 23‑CR‑00008‑CJW‑MAR.