Cedar Rapids Man Sentenced to 32 Years in Federal Prison for Sexually Exploiting a Child

A man who sexually exploited a 14-year-old girl, enticed her to engage in prostitution, and received child pornography was sentenced today to 32 years in federal prison.

Kevin Herring, age 30, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the sentence after a September 28, 2018, guilty plea to one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of receipt of child pornography.  Evidence at sentencing showed that, in January 2018, Herring was at a halfway house in Cedar Rapids following his federal prison sentence for being a felon and domestic abuser in possession of a firearm.  While on a pass from the halfway house, he met the victim, a runaway 14‑year-old girl.  Herring persuaded, induced, and enticed the victim to engage in prostitution and to send him sexually explicit images of herself.  Herring asked the victim if she loved him and told her she could live with him after he left the halfway house.

Herring was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by Chief United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Herring was sentenced to 384 months’ imprisonment in this case and an additional 24 months’ imprisonment for a supervised release violation in a previous case, to be served consecutively.  A special assessment of $200 was imposed, Herring was ordered to pay $111,654 in victim restitution, and he also must serve a seven-year term of supervised release.  He must comply with all sex offender registration and public notification requirements.

“Kevin Herring preyed upon the vulnerability of a 14-year-old runaway girl,” said United States Attorney Peter Deegan.  “His repulsive conduct earned him every minute of the sentence he received.  Our office has and will continue to hold accountable predators like Herring and prosecute them the full extent of the law.”

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the Waterloo Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations.

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 18-58.

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