Iowa man accused of sexual abuse to face federal charges
As 76-year-old man from northeastern Iowa who has been accused of sexually abusing children now faces federal child pornography charges.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Gazette reports that grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging Benton Stong of Oran with enticing a minor for the purpose of producing child pornography and with four counts of possession of child pornography.
The federal charges allege Stong attempted to persuade minors to engage in sexual activity of the purpose of photographing the activity using digital cameras. The alleged incidents happened between June and July 2012, according to the Gazette.
Stong is in the Fayette County Jail on state charges of second-degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of a minor, the AP reports. A hearing on the state charges has been set for August.
Stong allegedly possessed child porn in November 2009, and authorities found child porn on a computer hard drive and a SD memory card in July 2012, according to the Waterloo paper.
The Gazette also says Stong has a prior sexual abuse conviction from 1987 in Bremer County. He was paroled in 1992.
