Cedar Rapids Man Charged with Federal Child Pornography Offenses

Jason Smith, age 20, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been indicted on federal child pornography charges. The charges are contained in an indictment unsealed July 26, 2013 in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.

The indictment alleges that between 2011 and 2013, Smith distributed, received, and possessed child pornography.

If convicted on all charges, Smith faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 50 years’ imprisonment, a $750,000 fine, a $300 special assessment, and at least five years and up to life on supervised release following any imprisonment.

Smith appeared for a detention hearing on July 31, 2013 in federal court in Cedar Rapids and was held without bond. Smith’s next appearance for trial is set for September 23, 2013.

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 Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Cedar Rapids 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 13-54.