DAVENPORT, Iowa – A former Fairfield man, Auston Jacobus Hummell, age 23, was sentenced on January 26, 2022, to 190 months in prison for Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography. Following his prison term, Hummell was ordered to serve ten years of supervised release as well as pay $3,000 to each of his eleven victims – for a total of $33,000. Hummell was also ordered to pay a $100 Special Assessment fee.
According to court documents, the investigation into Hummell began when the Mount Pleasant Police Department received a CyberTip from the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The CyberTip indicated files containing child pornography were uploaded from specific IP addresses and those IP addresses traced back to Hummell. After liaising with Kahoka Police Department in Kahoka, Missouri, a search warrant was issued for Hummell’s known residence and numerous electronic devices were seized. The devices contained over 120,000 images and videos containing child pornography. On June 21, 2021, Hummell pleaded guilty to the charge.
United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mount Pleasant Police Department, Kahoka Police Department, and the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigated the case.
This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nation-wide 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.
The Department of Justice is remaining vigilant in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting wrongdoing related to the crisis.
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