North Liberty teen charged with distributing child pornography

An 18-year-old from North Liberty was arrested Thursday on charges he possessed and distributed sexually explicit videos of children multiple times over the last four years.

Drake Westen is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor-promote film, and three counts of possessing a depiction of a minor in a sex act.

  Buy Photo

According to warrant requests filed last May and July, police started investigating Westen in May 2024 after they were contacted by the principal at Solon High School, where Westen was a senior at the time.

Another student had reported a suicide threat made in a group chat on Discord, and while reviewing the chat on the student’s phone, the principal saw other conversations that indicated Westen had asked students for explicit pictures to sell them, and that he had used explicit pictures of another student as blackmail.

Police executed a search warrant on Westen’s home last May and seized multiple electronic devices. Another warrant was requested last July to search the devices.

According to criminal complaints, police discovered multiple instances of Westen sending or accessing sexually explicit videos of children. In November 2020, when Westen was 14, he sent a 31.4-second video to eight people over Instagram of a child engaged in a sexual act. In August 2022, when Westen was 16, he uploaded a copy of a 34-second video of a child engaging in a sex act to Snapchat. And in December 2023, when Westen was 17, he accessed a 10.22-second video and a 31.4-second video on Discord, both of a child engaged in a sexual act.

A warrant was issued for Westen’s arrest Feb. 24, and he was taken into custody on Thursday. He had a first appearance in court Friday and was released without bail.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com