(Sioux City) A Carroll man pled guilty Thursday in federal court in Sioux City to receipt of child pornography.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa says in a plea agreement, 29-year-old Kyler Colten Cook admitted that between February 8, 2019 and December 3, 2019, he knowingly received visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
While released pending trial, Cook was caught sending graphic texts and visual images to a female and was then detained in federal custody pending trial.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Cook remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Cook faces a minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and at least 5 years up to life of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Timmons and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
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.”