A who obtained child pornography using the Internet was sentenced on December 21, 2011, to 15 years in federal prison.
Justin Michael Hinz, age 26, from Marion, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 13, 2011, guilty plea to one count of receiving child pornography following a prior conviction related to possession of child pornography.
At the guilty plea hearing, Hinz admitted that, in 2004, he had been convicted of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in Linn County District Court. He admitted that, in early 2010, he received images of child pornography using the Internet. Hinz acknowledged he knew the images were of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Hinz was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Hinz was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and he must serve a 10-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
The 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Hinz is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
