Gladbrook man sentenced to 15 years for receiving child pornography

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Gladbrook man was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison last week for receiving child pornography, which included images of infants or toddlers.

John Thomas Carstensen, 50, pleaded last year to one count of receiving child pornography after admitting in a plea agreement that he had been convicted in Tama County District Court in 1993 for sexual exploitation of a minor. He also admitted to possessing child pornography between November 2021 and August 2022.

On Aug. 14, Sept. 2, and Nov. 2 of 2021, Carstensen paid a man via PayPal to gain access to messaging app where child pornography is shared, according to the plea agreement. During an interview with investigators, he admitted to purchasing the explicit images and investigators found 600 images on his phone. Some of the images were of children under the age of 12 and some depicted exploitation of an infant or toddler.

U.S. District Chief Judge C.J. Williams also ordered Carstensen to serve five years of supervised release following his prison term and he must pay $27,000 in victim restitution.

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