Department of Justice
United States Attorney Stephanie M. Rose
Northern District of Iowa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    
January 31, 2011

CEDAR RAPIDS MAN SENTENCED FOR POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
     A man who possessed child pornography he downloaded from the Internet was sentenced today to more than 8 years in federal prison.
     Robert Santon, age 24, formerly of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and most recently living in Ohio, received the prison term after a May 10, 2010, guilty plea to two counts of possessing child pornography.
     According to information disclosed in court, Santon possessed child pornography on his computer in about the fall of 2009.  Santon later possessed different child pornography on his computer on September 10, 2009.  According to a previously filed criminal complaint, police searched Santon's Cedar Rapids residence on September 10, 2009, after Santon's roommate reported seeing child pornography on Santon's computer.  Police seized a computer and a flash drive that contained evidence of child pornography that had either been deleted or moved prior to the search.  In an interview the day of the search, Santon admitted he downloaded and viewed child pornography from the Internet.
     Santon was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade.  Santon was sentenced to 97 months' imprisonment.  A special assessment of $200 was imposed, and he must serve a 10 year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.
     Santon 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 Peter Deegan and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department.