Vinton man convicted of child porn while on probation for similar crime

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Vinton man, who deceived a residential facility employee into letting him use her cellphone to look up child pornography, was convicted Thursday in federal court.

Brady David Salow, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography.

According to the plea agreement, Salow was previously convicted of four counts of possession of a depiction of a minor in a sex act and received probation in Dubuque County in 2019. As a condition of that probation, he was ordered to live at Cedar Valley Ranch, a residential facility in Vinton.

Salow was not allowed to have access to a phone or a computer because of his conviction, according to the plea. In the summer of 2023, Salow repeatedly persuaded an employee at the facility to let him use her cellphone because he wanted to either look up celebrity photos or to listen to music.

Salow began receiving and downloading child pornography about August 2023 to the employee’s phone without her knowledge and he saved downloaded images to a hidden folder on the phone.

In October 2023, another resident alerted staff that Salow had been using a phone, and the employee turned over her phone for examination, according to the plea. A forensic examination of the phone showed 13 images of child pornography, and that Salow regularly deleted the apps he was downloading.

Salow admitted to authorities that he had downloaded child pornography to the phone, the plea stated. He also said he downloaded a browser to hide his identity online on her phone.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams will set a sentencing date after a presentencing report is prepared. Salow faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 40 years in federal prison. He also will be ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release following his prison term.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Chatham and investigated by the FBI, Benton County Sheriff’s Office and Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

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