Aplington Man Pleads Guilty To Possessing Child Pornography

A man who possessed child pornography pled guilty on May 27, 2014, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Jeremiah Romo, age 20, from Aplington, Iowa, was convicted of one count of possession of child pornography.

At the plea hearing, Romo admitted that, in July 2013, he possessed child pornography, including one or more depictions of prepubescent children.  He also admitted that, in 2008, he was adjudicated delinquent for sexual abuse in the second degree.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Romo remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Romo faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and supervised release for 5 years to life following his imprisonment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

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 14-3011.