Omaha Man Sentenced to Prison for Travel with Intent to Engage in Sex with a Minor

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum announced on December 11, 2019, John Daniel Nielsen, Sr., age 40, of Omaha, was sentenced by United States District Court Senior Judge James E. Gritzner for travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Nielsen was sentenced to three years in prison, to be followed by a term of supervised release of five years.

In February 2019, Nielsen arranged a meeting at a Council Bluffs motel with a person that Nielsen thought was a fifteen year-old female, but was actually an undercover police officer, for the purpose of having a sexual encounter. Nielsen traveled from Omaha, Nebraska to Council Bluffs, Iowa and was arrested when he arrived at the motel.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Omaha Police Department, Council Bluffs Police Department, Mills County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Lincoln (Neb.) Police Department, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.