Hawkeye Reporter

Daniel Kaler, a 38-year-old resident of Sioux City, Iowa, pleaded guilty in federal court on September 8, 2025, to possessing child pornography.

During the plea hearing, Kaler admitted that between November 2023 and October 2024 he received and possessed more than 7,000 images and videos depicting child pornography. The material included content involving sadistic or masochistic conduct and featured prepubescent children, infants, and toddlers. The investigation began after Verizon’s cloud storage company issued a CyberTip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children linking the downloads to Kaler’s account. Law enforcement executed a search warrant on his electronic devices. Analysis revealed that Kaler used third-party browsers “Brave” and “Yandex” to search for and download child pornography.

Sentencing will be scheduled before United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand after a presentence report is completed. Following his guilty plea, Kaler was taken into custody by the United States Marshal Service and will remain detained until sentencing. He faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release if convicted; there is no parole in the federal system.

This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood—a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. The program brings together federal, state, and local resources to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in these crimes as well as to identify victims. More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.usdoj.gov/psc.