U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - United States Attorney Matt M. Dummermuth announced today the appointment of a new federal prosecutor who will be dedicated to prosecuting and attempting to prevent online child exploitation crimes in the Northern District of Iowa. Dummermuth also highlighted an innovative national public service announcement (PSA) campaign and announced a new Internet safety outreach effort in the Northern District of Iowa.

“I am pleased to announce Mark Tremmel, formerly the Wapello County Attorney, has joined our Sioux City office as a Project Safe Childhood (PSC) prosecutor,” said Dummermuth. “Mr. Tremmel will be prosecuting child exploitation crimes and assisting in our community outreach efforts to educate the public about the dangers children face on the Internet.”

The Northern District of Iowa received additional U.S. Department of Justice funding to hire a new PSC prosecutor. The Northern District was awarded this funding based on its historically strong commitment to prevention and prosecution of child exploitation crimes.

Launched in May 2006, PSC is a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department’s Criminal Division, and Internet Crimes Against Children task forces, PSC marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood and the public service announcements, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

“I am also here today to again remind parents and children to be safe online,” stated Dummermuth. “But equally important is my warning to would-be Internet predators: when you are convicted, your sentence will be steep."

Dummermuth played PSAs designed to educate parents about the potential dangers their children face online and, for the first time, warn potential online offenders that exploiting a child online is a serious federal offense.

The PSAs were developed jointly by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and Project Safe Childhood partners INOBTR ("I Know Better"), iKeepSafe, and the Hispanic Communications Network.

One of the PSAs, titled "Know Where They Go," highlights the risks children face on the Internet. The PSA illustrates how, in the digital world, children can travel anywhere and why it is important that parents monitor what sites their children visit and who they are talking to. Elements of this campaign include television, print, radio, and Web advertisements. For more on this PSA, please go to www.KnowWhereTheyGo.org.

“Parents should know their children face dangers on the Internet. Sexual predators are using the Internet to contact children in chat rooms and on sites like Myspace and Facebook,” said Dummermuth. “Properly used, the Internet is a wonderful resource, but it is improperly used by some to prey on children.”

The other PSA, titled "Exploiting a Minor Is a Major Offense," is part of a cutting-edge campaign designed to warn potential online predators that exploiting a child online is a serious federal offense. Elements of this campaign include television, movie theaters, print, radio, and Web banners. After playing this PSA, Dummermuth emphasized the consequences of downloading child pornography:

The Department of Justice and its PSC partners have a warning for anyone considering downloading child pornography from the Internet:

Download a single sexual image of a minor or sexually entice a minor online, and you have committed a federal crime. The decisions you make online have consequences that will last a lifetime. Investigators and police officers across the country are online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, searching for people who use the Internet to abuse children.

You may think the Internet gives you anonymity. You may think that, if you never come in physical contact with a child you met online, you have done nothing illegal. You are wrong.

Exploiting a minor is a major offense, whether you “meant” to do it or not. You will ruin your life, the lives of the ones you love, and the life of an innocent, young stranger.

For more on this PSA, please go to www.stopanonlinepredator.org.

“Prosecuting and attempting to prevent on-line child exploitation crimes has long been a priority of the United States Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Iowa,” Dummermuth stated.

During 2008, the Office prosecuted a wide range of child exploitation crimes, convicting defendants of downloading and sharing Internet child pornography, producing child pornography, enticing children over the Internet, and traveling to meet the Iowa children they hoped to exploit. Examples include:

-Donald Rager, age 41, from Grayslake, Illinois, received a 31-year prison term in April 2008 after pleading guilty to traveling to Iowa to engage in sexual conduct with a minor, producing child pornography, and transporting child pornography across a state line. Rager was a part-time police officer who operated a security business.

-John Shuler, age 42, from Cedar Rapids, received a 39-year prison sentence in September 2008 for producing child pornography.

-Daniel Eric Beenen, age 43, from Belmond, Iowa, was sentenced in May 2008 to 20 years in federal prison for receiving and possessing Internet child pornography.

-Kenneth Lee Richardson, age 54, from Waverly, Iowa, was sentenced in August 2008 to more than 12 years in prison for downloading child pornography from the Internet.

-Jeremy Moore, age 22, from Waterloo, Iowa, was sentenced last week to over 17 years’ imprisonment for downloading Internet child pornography and making it available to others using a peer-to-peer sharing program.

“The sentences in these cases are deservedly long because of the devastation caused by these crimes,” noted Dummermuth. “However, we would much rather prevent these crimes than prosecute them,” explained Dummermuth. “That is why the United States Attorney’s Office devotes much time and effort teaching children and the public how to be safe on the Internet.”

During the last school year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa presented Internet safety assemblies to just under 30,000 students at 101 middle schools. Law enforcement officers and others made presentations to approximately 12,500 students in 46 schools. These assemblies at schools in 49 of the 52 counties in the Northern District of Iowa were part of an ongoing effort to educate children in the District about the dangers they face on the Internet. Internet safety posters were provided to the schools, and students received a bookmark containing Internet safety information.

“This year, the United States Attorney’s Office will reach out to elementary school children and their parents by providing Internet safety materials to elementary schools in the District,” said Dummermuth. “It is never too early to teach kids about Internet safety.”

In a related area of prosecution, Dummermuth announced that in 2008 his Office, using a new federal statute, obtained its first convictions and charged more than a dozen additional defendants for allegedly failing to comply with their sex offender registration requirements.

“If parents, children, schools, and law enforcement work together, we can make the Internet and our communities safer places for children,” concluded Dummermuth.