United States of America v. Benjamin Tyler Gentry

Des Moines, Iowa, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with three counts of receipt and possession of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2), (b)(1), (a)(5)(B), and (b)(2), and with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2)



In October 2021, a Department of Homeland Security Special Agent downloaded prepubescent child pornography videos that were traced to a device with an IP address at Benjamin Tyler Gentry's residence in Boone, Iowa. At the time of the downloads, Gentry resided at this address with his girlfriend and her minor child, who were both out of town during that period. During a warrant search of the home in March 2022, officers seized an iPhone, a Samsung tablet, and two firearms. Gentry denied knowing the password to the Samsung device. After investigators bypassed the Samsung tablet's security, a forensic search revealed 181 images of mostly prepubescent child pornography in unallocated space

on the device.1 The images, deleted before the search, had been stored locally on the device between January 2020 and two days before it was seized. Nearly every application -- including BitTorrent, which is used to obtain child pornography -- was linked to Gentry's email address. Analysts also discovered search terms associated with child pornography in the tablet's web history. Gentry admitted to investigators that he accessed and downloaded pornography of minors as young as 14.

Defendant is sentenced to the custody of the BOP for a term of 168 months, consisting of 168 months on Count 1s and 24 months on Count 4s, to be served concurrently. Upon release, Defendant shall serve a supervised release term of 5 years, consisting of 5 years on Count 1s and 3 years on Count 4s, to be served concurrently. Court ordered $9,000 in restitution. $200 Special Assessment to the Crime Victims' Fund Assessment.