California man sentenced in Iowa to 30 years for child exploitation

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A California man was sentenced Dec. 10, 2019, in federal court to 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting a child.

This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Mason City (Iowa) Police Department and the North Platte (Nebraska) Police Department.

David Vogelpohl, 22, of Vista, California, was sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams, following a June 20, 2019, guilty plea in which he pleaded to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. At his plea hearing, Vogelpohl admitted that in 2018 he persuaded, induced, or enticed a juvenile female victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions.

In addition to his sentence Vogelpohl must also pay a special assessment of $100 to the Crime Victims Fund, must serve a 5-year term of supervised release following completion of his prison term and comply with all sex offender registration and public notification requirements.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 25,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child exploitation material, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2019, more than 3,500 child predators were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

HSI is a founding member of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.