A man who received child pornography was sentenced on Thursday, February 11, 2021, to more than 8 years in federal prison. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the northern District of Iowa, reports 38-year old Brandon Embrey, from Coon Rapids, received the prison term after a September 20, 2020, guilty plea to receiving child pornography

At the plea hearing, Embrey admitted that from September 2018 through April 2019, he received and possessed over 600 images of child pornography.  Embrey utilized the Internet, Google Drive and Google Photos to receive and possess visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including depictions involving prepubescent minors or minors whom had not attained 12 years of age.  Over 600 images of child pornography were found in Embrey’s online accounts.  Embrey also admitted to being a user of methamphetamine.

Embrey was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Embrey was sentenced to 97 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.

Embrey is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was a 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 www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mikala Steenholdt and was investigated by the Iowa ICAC Task Force, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Coon Rapids Police Department.