DES MOINES, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that on December 3rd, 2020, a United States District Court Judge sentenced 52-year-old Joseph Lee Fultz, of Des Moines, to 324 months (27 years) in prison, for Production of Child Pornography. Fultz was ordered to serve ten years of supervised release to follow his prison term and comply with sex offender registry requirements upon release.

An investigation into his activities began in May of 2019, when the Des Moines Police Department received a report that Fultz produced child pornography of four minors, ages 10 and under, while they were under his care. Subsequently, Des Moines police officers executed a search warrant at Fultz’s apartment where they seized his computers and electronic devices. The investigation showed that Fultz produced and possessed child pornography images of the four minors, as well as two additional children, including an infant. All six children were located and identified.

The case was investigated by the Des Moines Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the United States Department of Justice’s “Project Safe
Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nationwide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children.

Any persons having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821.