Tripoli Man Sentenced to 40 Years for Distributing Child Pornography

Austin Kingsbury, a 23-year-old man from Tripoli, Iowa, has been accused of distributing and possessing child pornography, and now he’s facing the music.

On June 20, 2025, Kingsbury pleaded guilty in federal court in Cedar Rapids to charges of distributing and possessing child pornography. The guilty plea comes after an investigation revealed that between August 2022 and June 2023, Kingsbury distributed visual depictions of child pornography. In addition, between December 2022 and June 2023, he possessed child pornography, including images of prepubescent children, on his cellular telephone.

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. The program marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

Kingsbury is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, as well as a $500,000 fine, $62,200 in special assessments, and a lifetime term of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Devra T. Hake and Dillan Edwards, and was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, the Tripoli, Iowa Police Department, the Bremer County, Iowa Sheriff’s Office, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Police Department, the Anchorage, Alaska Police Department, and the Alaska State Troopers Technical Crimes Unit.

Kingsbury remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. The case file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl, and the case file number is 24-CR-2049.

Austin Kingsbury’s case is a stark reminder of the severity of child pornography and the importance of holding perpetrators accountable. The Grimy Times will continue to follow this case and provide updates as more information becomes available.

We urge anyone with information about child exploitation to contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at https://report.cybertip.org/ or call the CyberTipline at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).