Farnhamville, Iowa Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography

Marcus Urelius, 36, from Farnhamville, Iowa, plead guilty January 10, 2023, in federal court to Possession of Child Pornography.

In a plea agreement, Urelius admitted that between April 2021, and January 2022, he used an Internet-based, peer-to-peer (P2P) network known as “Freenet” to knowingly receive and attempt to receive visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  He further admitted to using the network to share child pornography with others.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set for a later date after a presentence report is prepared.  Urelius remains in the custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Urelius faces a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a fine of not more than $250,000, a mandatory special assessment of $100 and a term of supervised release of at least 5 years to life.

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.”

The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.

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

The case file number is 22-3017.  Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.