Jury Convicts Sibley Man for Child Sexual Exploitation

A man who persuaded a 14-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit photos of herself was convicted by a jury on October 27, 2010, after a three-day trial in federal court in Sioux City.

Michael Mayer, age 40, from Sibley, Iowa, was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child. The verdict was returned following about four hours of jury deliberations. The week before trial, Mayer pled guilty to receiving child pornography and possessing child pornography.

The evidence at trial showed that, between May and August 2008, Mayer communicated online, through phone calls, and through text messages with a 14-year-old girl. Mayer persuaded the victim to send him pictures and videos of her genitals, and he sent the victim pornographic pictures and videos of himself. Images of the victim were found on Mayer’s computer.

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Mayer was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the verdict was returned and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Mayer faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 60 years’ imprisonment, $750,000 in fines, $300 in special assessments, and at least five years and up to life on supervised release following any imprisonment. He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, and the Sioux County Sheriff's Office.

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 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.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 09-4051.