News : Man Who Downloaded Child Porn After Conviction Pleads Guilty

Was residing in a state residential facility and used an employee's

phone to view and download child pornography

A man who received child pornography over the internet while in a residential facility for a prior child pornography charge pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

            Brady David Salow, age 27, from Vinton, Iowa, was convicted of one count of receiving child pornography.

            In a plea agreement, Salow admitted that he was convicted of four counts of possession of a depiction of a minor in a sex act in Dubuque County in 2019.  As a condition of his sentence in that case, in 2023 he was residing at a residential facility in Vinton.  Per the rules of the facility, Salow was not permitted to have access to a phone or a computer.  Beginning in the summer of 2023, however, Salow repeatedly persuaded an employee at the facility to loan him her cellular phone under the pretense that he was going to use it for either looking up photos of celebrities or to listen to music.  By at least August 2023, Salow began receiving and downloading child pornography to the employee's phone without the employee's knowledge, saving downloaded images to a hidden folder on the phone.  In October 2023 a fellow resident alerted staff that Salow had been using a phone, and the staff member turned over her phone for examination.  A forensic examination of the phone revealed child pornography, and Salow admitted that he had downloaded child pornography to the phone.

            Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Salow remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Salow faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and lifetime term of supervised release following any imprisonment.

            The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Benton County Sheriff's Office, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham.