Des Moines, IA- On August 29, 2008, Samuel Acosta, age 40, of Des Moines, IA, was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for receiving child pornography over the internet and ten years imprisonment (to be served concurrently) for possessing child photography, announced United States Attorney Matthew G. Whitaker. United States District Judge Chief Judge Robert Pratt also ordered that Acosta serve ten years of supervised release following his incarceration, and was ordered to pay an assessment of $100 to the Crime Victim Fund.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) first became aware of Acosta’s activities in October 2006, when it was investigating an underground child pornography website from which Acosta attempted to download multiple images. A search of Acosta’s home in Des Moines, on February 2007, revealed not only an extensive child pornography collection stored on computers and portable computer media, but six illegal aliens from Mexico, who were borders at Acosta’s home. Acosta unsuccessfully attempted to blame the illegal aliens for his child pornography collection, which was stored in his locked bedroom, largely in storage cabinets to which he had the only keys.

The FBI was unable to obtain a precise count of the images in Acosta’s collection due to the overwhelming volume of his inventory. However, it is estimated that, at a minimum, Acosta had 167,500 images of child pornography.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Iowa.