Marion Man Pleads Guilty to Receiving Child Pornography Following Prior Child Pornography Conviction

A man who obtained child pornography using the Internet pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Justin Michael Hinz, age 25, from Marion, Iowa, was convicted of one count of receiving child pornography following a prior conviction related to possession of child pornography.

At the plea hearing, Hinz admitted that, in 2004, he had been convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor in Linn County District Court. He admitted that in early 2010, he received images of child pornography using the Internet. Hinz acknowledged he knew the images were of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Hinz was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Hinz faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and supervised release following any imprisonment for at least five years and up to life.

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.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter Deegan and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Marion Police Department.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 11-0079 LRR.