Mason City Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

Cleon Mitchell, Jr., 46, from Mason City, Iowa, was sentenced on September 4, 2025, to 12 years’ imprisonment.  Mitchell, Jr. pled guilty April 30, 2025, in federal court in Sioux City to possession of child pornography.

At the plea and sentencing hearings, evidence showed that from August 2022, through April 2024, Mitchell used the applications Kik and Snapchat to receive and possess visual depictions of child pornography which involved a prepubescent minor or minor under the age of 12.  Snapchat reported Mitchell Jr.’s account to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who in turn reported the information to law enforcement.  Law enforcement connected the account back to Mitchell, Jr. and obtained a search warrant for his home and electronics.  During the execution of the search warrant, Mitchell, Jr. admitted he had received and possessed child pornography, and it would be located on his phone.  Forensic analysis of his electronics showed that Mitchell, Jr. possessed 30 videos and 50 images of child pornography including materials that portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct as well as prepubescent children and toddlers.  Mitchell also later admitted he had engaged in a pattern of activity involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of a minor and he plead guilty to Lascivious Acts with a Child in February 2025 in Cerro Gordo County District Court. 

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.”

Sentencing was held before United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Mitchell, Jr. was sentenced to 144 months’ imprisonment, was ordered to pay $600 in fines and assessments, and must serve a 5-year term of supervised release following his prison sentence.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Mitchell, Jr. remains in custody of the United States Marshal until he can be transported to a federal prison. 

The case was investigated by the Mason City Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.  

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 24-3038.  Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.