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DES MOINES, IOWA -- Press Release from Department of Justice United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt Southern District of Iowa

On July 30, 2010, Kenneth Ray Owens, 44, of Leon was sentenced to a term of 60 months imprisonment upon his conviction for Receipt of Child Pornography, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. United States District Court Judge James E. Gritzner ordered Owens to serve a ten year term of supervised release and be placed on the Sex Offender Registry upon his release from prison. Owens was also ordered to pay a Crime Victims’ Fund assessment of $100.

United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt said that federal laws dealing with the sexual exploitation of minors were designed for internet sexual predators. Klinefeldt further added that while the internet has many practical uses, it is also a place where sexual predators lurk and attempt to sexually exploit children. He encouraged concerned citizens to visit the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children website at www.iaicac.net for more information on internet safety.

Owens pleaded guilty to the receipt of child pornography charge on April 29, 2010. This case arose out of an investigation that led to the seizure of Owens computer and related media. A forensic exam of Owen’s computer and
related media revealed that he had downloaded and saved 110 videos and 2164 images of child pornography from the internet.

This case was investigated by the Norwalk, Iowa Police Department, the Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the
Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.