Storm Lake Man to Federal Prison for Child Pornography Conviction

A man who received and possessed child pornography was sentenced December 9, 2020, to more than 18 years in federal prison.

James Alan Sievers, 35, from Storm Lake, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 19, 2020, guilty plea to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Evidence at the plea hearing and sentencing showed that between June 5, 2019, and October 31, 2019, Sievers received and possessed visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including a depiction involving a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.  During the execution of a search warrant at Seivers’ residence on October 31, 2019, officers seized items belonging to Sievers.  A forensic examiner found child pornography on some of defendant’s items, including depictions of adult males sexually penetrating prepubescent children. Evidence also showed that Sievers saved some of his child pornography in an encrypted zip drive. 

Sievers has three prior convictions for in Buena Vista County for incest, failure to register as a sex offender, and sexual exploitation of a minor. 

Sievers was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Sievers was sentenced to 220 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve an 8-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Sievers is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

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 prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mikala Steenholdt and investigated by the Iowa ICAC Task Force, the FBI, the Storm Lake Police Department and the Buena Vista County Attorney's Office.

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

The case file number is 20-4001.  Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.