Jury Finds Winner Man Guilty of Sex Trafficking of Children and Production of Child Pornography

PIERRE - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that Richard Alan Kucera, age 67, of Winner, South Dakota, was found guilty of two counts of Sex Trafficking of a Child and two counts of Production of Child Pornography following a four-day federal jury trial in Pierre, South Dakota. The verdict was returned on July 18, 2025.

Each count of Sex Trafficking of a Child carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, and a maximum sentence of life in federal prison, and/or a $250,000 fine, five years up to life of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Each count of Production of Child Pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, and a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, and/or a $250,000 fine, five years up to life of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.

Kucera and co-defendant Ivy Heron, age 37, also of Winner, South Dakota, were indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2023.

At trial, the evidence established that between 2019 and 2021, Kucera and Heron entered into an agreement to recruit local girls to engage in sexual activity with Kucera in exchange for payment.  Heron received a fee for each girl she recruited whom Kucera selected. Between 2020 and 2021, Heron recruited two sixteen-year-old girls, each of whom Kucera paid to engage in sexual activity.  Kucera also created child pornography images and videos of both minor victims, which he uploaded to Facebook. The arrangement between Kucera and Heron was discovered in June 2022, when the minor victims were interviewed by law enforcement.

Heron pleaded guilty on April 9, 2025, to Conspiracy to Engage in Sex Trafficking of a Child.  She is in custody awaiting sentencing.

This case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Albertson prosecuted the case.   

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

A presentence investigation was ordered, and a sentencing date has not yet been set. Kucera was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending sentencing.