Creston Man Sentenced on Child Pornography Charges

DES MOINES—On May 18, 2009, Kent Merril Adamson, age 46, of Creston, Iowa, was sentenced to a term of 80 months’ imprisonment for transmitting obscene material to a minor, announced United States Attorney Matthew G. Whitaker. United States District Court Judge James E. Gritzner also ordered Adamson to serve a five year term of supervised release upon his release from prison and pay an assessment of $700 to the Crime Victim Fund.

On October 29, 2008, Adamson pled guilty to seven counts of transmitting obscene material to a minor. The case arose out of an FBI undercover investigation conducted from January 2007 through July 2007, where an agent was posing as a 14-year-old female on the Internet. Adamson, believing he was communicating with a minor female, sent her eight different videos, via the Internet, of himself masturbating. Adamson was a special education para professional and coach for the Creston, Iowa Community School District during the time of these offenses.

This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa. This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.