Colorado Man Sentenced for Coercion and Enticement of a Minor in Iowa to Engage in Unlawful Sexual Contact

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA—On September 26, 2012, Richard Pearson, age 51, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was sentenced in United States District Court in Council Bluffs for coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual contact, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. Senior United States District Court Judge Robert W. Pratt sentenced Pearson to 120 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. The court also ordered Pearson to pay a $100 special assessment for the Crime Victim Fund, to register with the Sex Offender Registry, and to forfeit certain items of personal property found in his possession on the date of his arrest in southwest Iowa. The court also considered restitution in favor of the minor victim but found that no restitution was currently owing. The defendant remains in the custody of the United States Marshals pending designation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons facility at which he will serve his sentence.

Pearson was originally charged in a four-count indictment stating two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual contact and two counts of interstate travel for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual contact with a minor. He pled guilty to one count of coercion and enticement of a minor, the highest offense charged, on June 28, 2012. The indictment related to events involving texting between Pearson and a minor under 16 years of age which occurred between about mid-February 2012, to about April 20, 2012, when the defendant was in southwest Iowa on a trip from Colorado to engage in unlawful activities with the minor victim in Iowa. Pearson was an over-the-road trucker who cultivated a relationship with the minor victim using cell phones provided to the minor by Pearson.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Atlantic, Iowa Police Department. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.