Lennon Slade Pleads Guilty

A 27-year-old Rock Rapids, Iowa man has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography and destroying evidence in federal court. Lennon Slade admitted to distributing child pornography between July 2011 and September 2011.

At the plea hearing, Slade confessed that when officers arrived to execute a search warrant at his house, he was inside destroying evidence. This admission was part of a plea agreement.

Slade was convicted of one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of destruction of evidence. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, $500,000 in fines, $200 in special assessments, and supervised release for 5 years to life following his imprisonment.

The case against Slade was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project aims to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl, with the case file number CR 12-4080. Slade was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing before United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett.

The guilty plea is a significant step in the fight against child pornography distribution. The Department of Justice and its partners will continue to work tirelessly to protect children from exploitation and to bring perpetrators to justice.