Cedar Rapids Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Exploiting Children and Possessing Child Pornography

A man who sexually exploited children and possessed child pornography pled guilty on November 13, 2025, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Dawson Sanderson, age 24, of Cedar Rapids, was convicted of one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography.  At the plea hearing, Sanderson admitted that, in 2021, he got minors to produce and send depictions of sexually explicit conduct.  He also possessed child pornography.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Sanderson remains in the custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Sanderson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, $67,200 in special assessments, and supervised release for five years to life following any imprisonment.

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.”

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Iowa State Patrol, and the Linn 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 25-51.

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