CEDAR RAPIDS – This Iowa man was using a file sharing service to send illicit photos of innocent children to anyone he liked, and one of them turned out to be police investigators, and now the harsh reality of federal prison will be shared with him.
A man who distributed child pornography
Christopher Charles Smith, age 34, from Asbury, Iowa, was sentenced June 30, 2025, to nine years in federal prison. He received the prison term after a January 3, 2025, guilty plea to distributing child pornography.
At the guilty plea, Smith admitted he used a messaging service to communicate with others and trade child pornography. In October of 2022, Smith distributed three videos of child pornography to an undercover law enforcement officer.
Smith was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Smith was sentenced to 108 months’ imprisonment and an 8-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
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.”
Smith is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick J. Reinert and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.