Marion man sentenced to 8 years for child porn

CEDAR RAPIDS — A 55-year-old Marion man who, in notes found on his phone, dehumanized his child victims and compared his child pornography collection to baseball cards or stamps, was sentenced last week to eight years in prison.

John Mercil was convicted of four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for possessing multiple images and videos of minors engaged in sexual acts. Each aggravated misdemeanor carries a two-year sentence.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Alex Anderson recommended the maximum sentencing and 6th Judicial Associate District Judge Casey Jones agreed, ordering the sentences run consecutively for a total of eight years.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks noted that this a “substantial” sentence in state court for child pornography charges.

Investigators worked with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and found a number of Mercil’s images had been identified as known victims by the center, according to court documents.

According to a psychologist’s risk assessment report, which Jones considered at sentencing, a supplemental police report in August 2022, indicated Mercil’s devices contained 3,700 photos and videos that included female and male children between the ages of 6 and 17.

Mercil had uploaded child pornography using Kik Messenger, according to the report. He admitted to police to owning a collection of child pornography and to sharing it through the messaging app. When police came to his house, he thought they were following up a visit from the FBI, who came in September 2020 and confiscated all his electronic devices.

He also admitted that had replaced his cellphone and computer.

Mercil knew his downloading and sharing of child pornography was wrong, but he “rationalized his behaviors” by telling himself he wasn’t victimizing them because he wasn’t touching the children, according to the report.

Jones also ordered Mercil to register as a sex offender for 10 years following his prison term and to serve a special sentence of parole for 10 years as required by Iowa law because this a sex offense.

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