A man who possessed child pornography and used Artificial Intelligence to produce other child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), pled guilty September 29, 2026, in federal court in Sioux City.

Evan Marra, 31, from Hull, Iowa, was convicted of one count of possession of child pornography and one count of producing, receiving, and distributing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children.

At the plea hearing, Marra admitted that from November 1, 2019, through May 14, 2026, he received and possessed child pornography which consisted primarily of images depicting prepubescent males ages 3-12 engaged in sex acts with adults. Law enforcement received CyberTips from Marra’s cellphone cloud-storage provider and recognized one image as AI-generated materials depicting known minors from the local area. Search warrants executed on Marra’s social media accounts revealed 50 videos of child pornography and several AI-generated videos of known local victims. During a search warrant of Marra’s electronics, law enforcement found AI-generated CSAM of local victims with their faces inserted in the images of CSAM so it appeared as if they were being abused.

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.

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Marra remains in custody of the United States Marshal and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Marra faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office 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 26-4037. Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.