News and Press Releases

"Sextortion" Lands Man In Federal prison

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2010

Contact: Peter Deegan

A man who attempted to extort his former girlfriend by threatening to post a sexually explicit photograph of her taken when she was a minor was sentenced on December 9, 2010, to more than six years in federal prison.

Garrett Drew Roegner, age 25, from Plymouth, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 8, 2010, guilty plea to one count of transporting child pornography and one count of extortion.

In a plea agreement, Roegner admitted that, beginning on May 30, 2010, he sent a series of messages on Myspace.com to a former girlfriend threatening to post sexually explicit pictures of her on the Internet unless she agreed to meet with him. One of the messages had two pictures attached and said, “. . . u wouldn't want anyone to see these.” A later message said, “. . . if I don't hear back from u by next Wednesday I will post them.” One of the pictures was of the former girlfriend engaged in sexually explicit conduct with Roegner when she was 17 years’ old and Roegner was 19 years’ old. Roegner admitted he sent the messages to try to get his former girlfriend to have sex with him.

“This case presents a chilling example of just one of the many terrible consequences of teens taking sexually explicit pictures,” said United States Attorney Stephanie M. Rose. “In the digital age, any picture can easily find its way onto the Internet and become available for anyone to see. And once it’s out there, there is no way to get it back.”

Roegner was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Roegner was sentenced to 78 months’ imprisonment, and a special assessment of $200 was imposed. He must also serve a 10-year term of supervised release after the prison term. Roegner must also register as a sex offender. There is no parole in the federal system.

Roegner was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter Deegan and was investigated by the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 10-2024 LRR.

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