CEDAR RAPIDS — Jacob Samuel Yang, age 36, from Tama, pled guilty Thursday in federal court in Cedar Rapids to distributing child pornography and possessing child pornography.

In a plea agreement, Yang admitted that in March 2024, he sent child pornography to other people. He stored child pornography on his cellular phone and computer. The child pornography included a depiction of an infant or toddler.

The case was brought against Yang as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Yang remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Yang faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $62,200 in special assessments, and a lifetime term of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Tama County Sheriff’s Office, the Tama Police Department, and the Marshalltown Police Department. Court file information is at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 25-CR-24.