Tripoli Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography CrimesArticle

A man who received and possessed child pornography pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.Isiah Michael Morse, age 22, from Tripoli, Iowa, was convicted of one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Evidence at a prior hearing showed that in January 2024, law enforcement officers searched Morse’s person and seized a phone. On the phone were images and videos of child pornography, including of prepubescent children. Morse had paid for child pornography on at least two occasions.

In an interview with officers, Morse admitted that he had downloaded child pornography and then moved it to a “hidden folder” on his phone. At the plea hearing, Morse admitted that between November 2021 and November 2023, he received child pornography, and that between May 2023 and January 2024, he possessed child pornography on his phone. This case was brought as 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.”Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Morse was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing.

Morse faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, $62,200 in special assessments, and a lifetime term of supervised release following any imprisonment.The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Johnson County Joint Forensic Analysis Cyber Team, and the Bremer County Sheriff’s Office. Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.The case file number is 25-CR-2036.Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.