Mensur Malik, Child Exploitation, Sioux Falls SD, 2023

Two South Dakota men have pleaded guilty to federal child exploitation offenses after crossing state lines to commit sex acts with a minor. Mensur Malik, 22, from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Salim Issa, 22, from Sioux Falls, admitted to their crimes in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Mensur Malik was convicted of one count of transporting a minor across a state line with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Salim Issa was convicted of one count of traveling across a state line for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct.

At a plea hearing on September 23, 2013, Malik admitted that, in July 2012, he transported a minor female from Iowa to South Dakota with the intent to engage in sexual activity with her. At a plea hearing on September 13, 2013, Issa admitted that, in July 2012, when he and Malik traveled from South Dakota to Iowa, he intended to have sex with the minor female.

The sentencings for both Malik and Issa will be set after presentence reports are prepared. Both men remain in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Malik faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and supervised release for 5 years to life following his imprisonment.

Issa faces a possible maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and supervised release for 5 years to life following his imprisonment. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Clear Lake, Iowa, Police Department, the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Police Department, and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

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. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 13-3024. The guilty pleas of Mensur Malik and Salim Issa serve as a reminder of the importance of cooperation between law enforcement agencies in combating child exploitation and the need for continued vigilance in protecting our nation’s children from predators.