Former Guardsman sentenced for possession of child exploitation material following HSI investigation

DAVENPORT, Iowa — An Iowa man was sentenced April 3 to 100 months in prison for possession of child exploitation material following a joint Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Iowa State Patrol investigation.

According to court records, law enforcement began investigating Jason Robert Wesely, 39, a former member of the Iowa National Guard, after receiving a cyber tip from a social media platform in May 2020. The tip included descriptions of Wesely’s sexual conversations with an undercover agent pretending to be a 14-year-old. Further investigation revealed that he belonged to a chat group where child sexual abuse material was shared among its members, and he admitted to belonging and viewing and sharing child sexual abuse material. Wesely was ultimately discharged from the Iowa National Guard.

The judge ordered Wesely to serve eight years of supervised release following his prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI Kansas City Taekuk Cho and United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement.

This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nationwide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action and public awareness to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. Anyone having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 800-284-7821.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.

Learn more about HSI’s mission to combat child exploitation in your community on Twitter @HSIKansasCity.