Sioux City Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography

Keith Havener, 62, from Sioux City, Iowa, pled guilty May 13, 2026, in federal court in Sioux City to possession of child pornography.

At the plea hearing, Havener admitted that between June 1, 2024, and January 13, 2025, he possessed and attempted to possess visual depictions of child pornography, including a depiction involving a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained 12 years of age. Evidence in the case showed that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a Cybertip report from Tagged.com about a local 14-year-old female making a dating profile offering up housecleaning and prostitution. FBI agents interviewed the girl to ensure her safety, and she denied making the ad. It was determined that the ad was made by Havener. On January 6, 2025, a search warrant was executed at Havener's residence, where officers seized an iPhone, multiple computers/laptops, and multiple external storage devices. Forensic analysis of the digital media devices revealed that Havener possessed a total of 1,025 images of child pornography all created by Havener using Artificial Intelligence technology to remove clothing from the pictures of children he had gotten off social media. Some of the images included sadistic and masochistic conduct.

Evidence in the case also revealed that a parallel investigation into Havener was being conducted by the Sioux City Police Department about allegations Havener had used AI to create explicit images of his female coworkers and distributed them at work. His employer turned over the computer Havener used for work to be searched and SCPD detectives discovered additional images of child pornography, as well as images of Havener's coworkers. Detectives sought search warrants for Havener's Google accounts and discovered Havener had created the Tagged.com ad, created email accounts in the 14-year-old's name, and was conversing with people online in a sexual manner. Some of the discussions involved people traveling to Sioux City from out of state to engage in sex with the 14-year-old. Detectives passed those leads on to the local agencies where the offenders lived.

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Havener remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Havener faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Sioux City Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.plLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

The case file number is 25-4001. Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.