California Man Charged with Sexual Exploitation of a Child

David Vogelpohl, age 21, of Vista, California, has been charged with sexual exploitation of a child.  The charge is contained in an Indictment unsealed on December 3, 2018, in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.  

The Indictment alleges that, between about August 2018 and October 2018, Vogelpohl persuaded, induced, and enticed a minor under 18 years old to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions. 

If convicted, Vogelpohl faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and at least five years and up to life on supervised release following any imprisonment. 

Vogelpohl appeared on December 3, 2018, in federal court in Cedar Rapids and was held without bond.  Vogelpohl’s next appearance for trial is set for February 4, 2019.

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 is being investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Mason City Police Department, the North Platte, Nebraska, Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations. 

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 18-3053. 

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