A Pella man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on child pornography charges.
Forty-four-year-old James Allen Russell of Pella was convicted of receipt of child pornography. Prosecutors say Russell had downloaded and saved about 150 images of child pornography from the internet. Russell entered a guilty plea in April. This week Russell was sentenced to 180 months in prison. After that 15 year term is up, he’ll be on parole for another 10 years.
Russell was nabbed through a nationwide initiative called “Project Safe Childhood” that involves federal, state and local authorities. The U.S. Attorney for Southern Iowa issued a statement on Russell’s case, saying “while the internet has many practical uses, it is also a place where sexual predators lurk and attempt to sexually-exploit children.”