Former Storm Lake City Employee Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography

Brian Oakleaf, 52, from Storm Lake, Iowa, pled guilty September 9, 2025, to two counts of possession of child pornography in federal court in Sioux City.

At the plea hearing, evidence showed that from March 1, 2022, through July 29, 2024, Oakleaf received, distributed, and possessed child pornography, including a depiction involving a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained 12 years of age on two separate cellular phones. In May 2024, law enforcement conducted an investigation online into a file sharing program and directed their focus on an IP address that was sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Investigation into the ownership of the IP address at the time of the file sharing led investigators to Oakleaf. On July 29, 2024, investigators executed search warrants at Oakleaf's residence and office at Storm Lake City Hall and seized cell phones and electronics. Forensic analysis of Oakleaf's devices further showed that he used the file sharing program investigators were targeting and used a litany of known child exploitation search terms to obtain CSAM. Evidence further showed that he had used the alias of Dan Dyle to look at and trade child pornography. In the plea agreement, Oakleaf admitted he possessed 1 video over 90 minutes in length and over 20,000 images of child pornography across the two phones. The videos and images included depictions of toddlers, bondage, and sadistic and masochistic conduct.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit https://www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Oakleaf was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Oakleaf faces a possible maximum sentence of 40 years' imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release following any imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system.

The case was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 25-4020. Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.