SIOUX CITY – A Mason City man who possessed large amounts of child pornography was convicted by a jury on November 17, 2022, after a 4-day trial in federal court in Sioux City.
Brandon Manning, age 41, from Mason City, Iowa, was convicted of two counts of possession of child pornography. The verdict was returned following more than four hours of jury deliberations.
The evidence at trial showed that Manning possessed thousands of images and videos of child pornography, including pornography of children under the age of 12 years old, on an SD card in a cellphone he attempted to destroy when being served with a search warrant on March 12, 2022, and on an internal hard drive for a laptop that was found in his home, hidden in his bedroom.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Manning remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Manning faces, for each count, a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 5 years up to life of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Timmons and was investigated by the Mason City Police Department and the State of Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
