Grinnell Man Sentenced to 260 Months in Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

DES MOINES, Iowa – United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum announced on November 26, 2019, John Allen Urfer, age 43, of Grinnell Iowa, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge James E. Gritzner for Receipt of Child Pornography. Urfer was sentenced to 260 months in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release of twenty years. Urfer was also order to pay $21,000 in restitution to identified victims depicted in the images and videos that Urfer received.

Urfer pleaded guilty to the offense on July 10, 2019, and admitted that he received child pornography, including prepubescent child pornography, from September 2017 to April 2018. Urfer was found to have over 1,300 images and over 2,900 videos of child pornography. Urfer further admitted to having prior convictions for assault with intent to commit sex abuse in Marion County in 2003, and sex abuse in the third degree in Polk County in 2005. In addition to the sex abuse convictions, Urfer has two convictions for failing to comply with Iowa sex offender registry requirements.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with the assistance of the United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.