Joseph Mikel Cerwick, Receipt of Child Pornography, Iowa 2021

Urbandale Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

A Urbandale man has been sentenced to 144 months in prison for Receipt of Child Pornography, announced Acting United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal. The defendant, Joseph Mikel Cerwick, age 33, was also ordered to serve eight years of supervised release to follow his prison term.

Cerwick was found guilty of receiving and sending a video of child pornography to other persons via the Kik app in November 2017. The investigation began in December 2017 when the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Child Exploitation Task Force received a tip that a video of child pornography had been sent to an individual through the Kik internet application.

Police seized Cerwick's cellular telephone, which was found to contain hundreds of images of child pornography. The FBI executed a search warrant at Cerwick's Urbandale apartment in September 2018.

This matter was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the United States government's 'Project Safe Childhood' initiative.

'Project Safe Childhood' is a nationwide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. The 'Project Safe Childhood' initiative was started in 2006.

If you have any information about a child being sexually abused, you are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821.

Cerwick was sentenced on April 16, 2021, and was ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution. He must also comply with sex offender registry requirements upon his release from prison.

Any further questions or concerns should be directed to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdia/pr/urbandale-man-sentenced-twelve-years-prison-receipt-child-pornography