ICE HSI, local law enforcement, investigation results in 70 year sentence for Iowa man convicted of sexually exploiting children

DES MOINES, Iowa — United States District Court Senior Judge James E. Gritzner sentenced Andrew Scott Scanlan, age 33, formerly of Newton, to 840 months in prison for two counts of production of child pornography and one count of Offense by a Registered Sex Offender, Thursday, announced Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Katherine Greer and United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal.

Scanlan pleaded guilty on Nov. 4, 2021, following a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Newton Police Department and the Jasper County Attorney’s Office.

Following completion of his prison term, Scanlan will be required to register as a sex offender and will be on supervised release for ten additional years. According to court documents, on multiple different dates from Sep. 2, 2020, to Jan. 21, 2021, Scanlan persuaded and coerced Child Victim #1 to perform sex acts on Scanlan in Newton. Scanlan video-recorded these sex acts on three different dates using his cell phone. Child Victim #1 was nine years old when Scanlan’s abuse began and Scanlan knew the age of that child. At the time Scanlan committed these production of child pornography offenses, Scanlan was required by the laws of the State of Iowa to register as a sex offender. Additionally, in early 2021, Scanlan took photographs depicting child pornography using his cell phone of Child Victim #2. Child Victim #2 was four years old. Investigators located the above referenced depictions on Scanlan’s cell phone as well as additional depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct that Scanlan had obtained via the internet.

This case was investigated by HSI. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the United States 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 in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. Any persons having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call 911, the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821 or the HSI Tip Line at 1-866-347-2423.

HSI is a directorate of ICE and 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 over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 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 @HSIKansasCity.