Dubuque Man Sentenced to 42 Years for Sexually Exploiting Child

A man who sexually exploited a child and distributed child pornography was sentenced today to 42 years in federal prison.  John James Dixon, age 41, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after a January 22, 2025 guilty plea to sexual exploitation of a child and distribution of child pornography.  

  Evidence at the sentencing hearing showed that between August 2023 and May 2024, on multiple occasions, John Dixon and his co-conspirator, Justin James Paisley, committed sexual acts with a prepubescent child.  They photographed and videotaped the child engaging in sexual conduct and sent those images to each other via text message.  Paisley also photographed a second prepubescent child engaged in sexually explicit conduct and sent the photograph to Dixon.     

Dixon was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.  Dixon was sentenced to 504 months’ imprisonment, must pay $6,000 in special assessments, and must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

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.”

Dixon is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and investigated by the Dubuque Police Department.  

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 24-CR-1032.

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