Christopher Heath-Lowther, age 30, of Platteville, Wisconsin, has been charged with one count of transporting a minor across a state line with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of traveling across a state line for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct. The charges are contained in an Indictment filed on September 10, 2014, in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.

The Indictment alleges that, between December 2013 and February 2014, Heath-Lowther traveled across a state line for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct and transported a minor across a state line with the intent to engage in sexual activity that is illegal in Wisconsin.

If convicted, Heath-Lowther faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, a $200 special assessment, and at least five years and up to life on supervised release following any imprisonment.

Heath-Lowther appeared for a detention hearing today in federal court in Cedar Rapids and was released to home detention with GPS monitoring. Heath-Lowther’s next appearance for trial is set for November 17, 2014.

As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Platteville, Wisconsin, Police Department, and the Maquoketa Police Department.

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.”

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 14-1014.