U-S Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt announced Wednesday a Creston man was among five people charged and convicted on child pornography charges, following the conclusion of a multi-agency investigation of internet-related child pornography crimes in the Southern District of Iowa. The investigation, spearheaded by Homeland Security Investigations-Des Moines, centered on the trading of child pornography pictures and videos on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

Five defendants were charged and convicted in separate prosecutions and were sentenced to a combined total of more than 43 years in prison. They include: Michael Hanold, of Creston, who will serve 48 months in prison; Francisco Zayas, of Marshalltown (240 months); Monroe Wardlow, of Grinnell (96 months); Enrique Guzman, of Osceola (80 months), and William Trimble, Jr., of Albia, who will serve 60 months.  After serving their terms of imprisonment, each defendant will be required to serve a term of supervised release of at least 5 years and to register as a sex offender.

Other law enforcement agencies assisting with the operation included the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Iowa police departments of Albia, Creston, Grinnell, Marshalltown, and Osceola. The cases were prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office
for the Southern District of Iowa as part of its “Project Safe Childhood” initiative.