Tripoli Man Sentenced to Over 38 Years in Federal Prison for Child Exploitation Crimes

A man who sexually abused three children, and distributed, received, and possessed child pornography, was sentenced on November 14, 2025, to more than 38 years in federal prison.  Austin Kingsbury, age 24, from Tripoli, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 20, 2025, guilty plea to distribution and possession of child pornography.  

Evidence at sentencing showed that over many years, Kingsbury sexually abused three children.  Kingsbury photographed himself sexually abusing one of the children.  Kingsbury also distributed child pornography to multiple people in May 2023, and he downloaded child pornography between August 2022 and June 2023.  

Kingsbury was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.  Kingsbury was sentenced to 460 months’ and 22 days’ imprisonment and was ordered to make $18,000 in restitution to victims in this case.  He must also serve a five-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.”

Kingsbury 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 Attorneys Devra T. Hake and Dillan Edwards and investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, the Tripoli Police Department, the Bremer County Sheriff’s Office, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Anchorage, Alaska, Police Department, and the Alaska State Troopers Technical Crimes Unit.  

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

The case file number is 24-CR-2049.

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