A Newton man was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison on federal child pornography charges.
Arleigh J. Esqueda, 35, also was ordered to serve eight years of supervised release after imprisonment and to pay $100 to the Crime Victims Fund, according to United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt.
Sentencing took place in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
Esqueda pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing child pornography that included images of a prepubescent child or children under 12.
The sentence imposed on Esqueda was based, in part, on Esqueda’s criminal history and the nature of the offense. According to court documents, Esqueda had more than 10 previous state-court convictions for various crimes, including one prior sex offense when he was 17.
His collection of child pornography was accumulated over approximately five years, and he had 351 images and 77 videos of child pornography on his computer when he was caught by law enforcement officers in 2013.
The case was investigated by law enforcement agents with Homeland Security Investigations, and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.