Former cedar rapids resident pleads guilty to possessing child pornography
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who possessed child pornography on his computer pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Robert Santon, age 24, formerly of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and now living in Ohio, was convicted of two counts of possession of child pornography.
At the plea hearing, Santon admitted he possessed child pornography on his computer in about the Fall of 2009. Santon later possessed different child pornography on his computer on September 10, 2009. According to a previously filed criminal complaint, police executed a search warrant at Santon’s Cedar Rapids residence on September 10, 2009, after Santon’s roommate reported seeing child pornography on Santon’s computer. Police seized a computer and a flash drive that contained evidence of child pornography that had either been deleted or moved prior to the search. In an interview the day of the search, Santon admitted he downloaded and viewed child pornography from the Internet.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Santon remains free on bond previously set pending sentencing. Santon faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, $200 in special assessments, and supervised release for 5 years to life following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter Deegan and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 10-19 LRR.
