Jury Convicts Cedar Rapids Man of Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Child and Destruction of Evidence

A man who attempted to solicit a minor to engage in prostitution was convicted by a jury on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, after a two-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Joshua Johnson, age 50, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was found guilty of attempted sex trafficking of a child and destruction of evidence.

The evidence at trial showed that, in December 2023, Johnson responded to an ad on a website for prostitution.  He exchanged text messages with a person who stated that she was 13 years old; she actually was an undercover law enforcement officer.  Johnson sent messages describing sex acts he could perform with the minor, and he traveled to Hiawatha, Iowa, to meet with her.  After meeting with officers, Johnson wiped his cell phone.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Johnson remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Johnson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, $5,200 in special assessments, and supervised release for 5 years to life following any imprisonment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Hiawatha Police Department.

This case was brought 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.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is CR 24-38.

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