A western Iowa man was convicted this morning (Wednesday) on charges he sexually exploited his teenage step-daughter. The federal jury in Des Moines took less than two hours to return a guilty verdict against 38-year-old Brian Street of Griswold.
Cass County Sheriff Bill Sage says Street was accused of sexual exploitation and of possessing child pornography — dozens of pictures he took of the girl. Sage says the jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts. Street will face a minimum sentence of 15 years with a maximum of 30 years. Tracey Dyess, now 19-years-old, testified this week how she set the family home in Griswold on fire in 2005 to kill Street, though her younger brother and sister died in the blaze.
Dyess is serving 45 years on five felony counts. Sheriff Sage says he wasn’t surprised by the guilty verdicts against Street. Sage says Street showed no reaction to the verdict but "obviously, the law enforcement community, the prosecution team, we were smiling inside." The court case lasted about two-and-a-half days and Sage says the legal team did a great job. He says the crux of the government case was determining whether the person depicted in the pictures was under age 18, was the equipment involved transported by interstate commerce, and was he in possession of the items.
More than 50 pictures of Dyess were seized from a fire-proof safe in the burned home. The photos reportedly showed Dyess in various sexual poses, some that included Street. Prosecutors convinced jurors Street had taken the pictures and had sex with the girl. Sage says "The government did an excellent job of relaying that information to the jury and, obviously, coming to a successful conclusion."