Iowa City Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Child Pornography Charge

DAVENPORT, IA – Samuel Lee Pelechek, age 25, of Iowa City, was sentenced today to 42 months in prison for Possession of Child Pornography. Following his imprisonment, Pelechek was ordered to serve five years of supervised release.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a cybertip from Dropbox related to the upload of possible child pornography. Law enforcement traced the child pornography to Pelechek. Pelechek admitted to obtaining child pornography from various sites which was uploaded on his Dropbox account. Pelechek pleaded guilty on February 22, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Coralville Police Department and Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.

This case was prosecuted as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nationwide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc and click on the resources tab.