A man who came to Iowa from Minnesota and did not register with the state sex offender registry was sentenced on April 15, 2026, to more than two years in federal prison. Blake William Johnson, age 31, from Austin, Minnesota, received the prison term after a December 29, 2025, guilty plea to failure to register as a sex offender.Information from sentencing and other hearings showed that Johnson was previously convicted of electronic solicitation of children in 2022 in Minnesota after he repeatedly messaged an online profile represented to be that of a female child under the age of fifteen. The profile was operated by an undercover law enforcement agent. Johnson sent explicit messages to the profile, including pictures of his genitals.
In July 2025, Johnson absconded from correctional supervision in Minnesota. He began living in Iowa and was arrested on August 21, 2025. Johnson did not register with the state of Iowa sex offender registry as he was required to do. In addition to his sex offense conviction, Johnson’s criminal history includes convictions for drug possession, burglary, domestic assault, and violating a no contact order.
Johnson was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Johnson was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a ten-year term of supervised release after the prison term.
There is no parole in the federal system. Johnson 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 Kyndra Lundquist and investigated by the United States Marshals Service and the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office. Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 25-CR-2057.