cedar county man sentenced to 30 years for producing child pornography
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who took sexually explicit photographs of a child he was babysitting was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison.
Arthur Neal, 41, from West Branch, Iowa, received the prison term after a January 4, 2010, guilty plea to sexually exploiting the child.
At the guilty plea, Neal admitted he took sexually explicit pictures of a 13-year-old girl.
Neal was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. At the sentencing hearing, the Court found Neal committed his crime while babysitting the child. The Court also found he was a repeat and dangerous sex offender. Neal was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment, the statutory maximum. A special assessment of $100 was imposed. He must also serve a 10-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Neal will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Neal is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sean R. Berry and investigated by the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 09-32 LRR.
