Reinbeck man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for child porn

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Reinbeck man who had over 33,000 images of child pornography and shared them with others on the Internet was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Thursday.

Michael Cottrell, 43, pleaded guilty in October to one count of receiving and possessing child pornography. During the plea hearing, Cottrell admitted to receiving and possessing child pornography between January 2012 and September 2014. He also admitted the explicit images were of minors under the age of 12.

U.S. District Chief Judge Linda Reade pointed out Cottrell's juvenile conviction in Kentucky of second-degree sexual abuse, involving children he babysat, increased his prison time because it showed he had a pattern of activity before the federal conviction. The age of the children in the photos and videos also enhanced his sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Tremmel in arguing for prison time noted authorities found handwritten stories of sexual abuse were found in Cottrell's home and that he violated pre-trial release by accessing sexually implicit materials on his cell phone.

Melanie Keiper, Cottrell's lawyer, argued that 20 years was sufficient punishment, saying Cottrell wanted treatment and after he was convicted as a juvenile he hasn't touched another child.

Keiper said one of the handwritten stories didn't involve sexual abuse, and Cottrell had been taught to write as a form of treatment after his juvenile conviction.

Cottrell declined to comment before sentencing.

Reade said there were aggravating factors, which she mentioned early, to give him the maximum time of 40 years but she was sentencing him to 30 years. She also ordered him to pay victim restitution of $500 to an identified victim in series of child pornography but it's not a local victim. The restitution will be paid to the victim's lawyer or legal guardians.

The case was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Grundy County Sheriff's Office and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.