CEDAR RAPIDS – A Northern Iowa man who chased children around the world and gathered over 120,000 illicit images has been sent to prison for 360 months.
Jared Russell Rigdon (pictured at top), 38, from Waverly, Iowa, was sentenced November 13, 2024, to 30 years in federal prison. On March 29, 2024, Rigdon pled guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of distribution of child pornography.
Evidence in the case showed that between January 2022, and March 22, 2023, Rigdon downloaded and distributed files of child pornography using BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer network, as well as Kik. Rigdon admitted that he used a video chat application and a screen-recording application to record dozens of clearly prepubescent children from around the world, whom Rigdon would solicit to engage in sexual and lascivious acts. Forensic review of his electronic devices discovered over 120,000 images of child sexual abuse materials. The videos and images discovered involved material that portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct and included prepubescent children, infants, and toddlers.
Rigdon was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Rigdon was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Rigdon is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
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 http://www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
The case was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Urbandale Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.