Cedar Rapids Man Charged with Distribution, Receipt, and Possession of Child Pornography

Craig Watters, age 30, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been charged with distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography.  The charges are contained in an Indictment filed on September 14, 2017 in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids. 

The Indictment alleges that, in 2014, Watters distributed child pornography, received child pornography, and possessed child pornography on a computer.  The Indictment also alleges that Watters was convicted of receipt of child pornography in the Northern District of Iowa in 2009.

If convicted, Watters faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 100 years’ imprisonment, a $750,000 fine, $300 in special assessments, and at least five years and up to life on supervised release following any imprisonment.

Watters appeared on September 20, 2017 in federal court in Cedar Rapids and was held without bond.  Watters’s next appearance for trial is set for November 20, 2017.

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 Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

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 17-69.

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