A Dow City man has been sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for a child exploitation scheme that investigators say stretched across more than a dozen states and reached victims overseas.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa, 42‑year‑old Bryce White was sentenced Thursday, June 18, in federal court in Sioux City. White pleaded guilty in January to sexual exploitation of a child and receipt of child pornography.
Prosecutors say that between August 2023 and August 2024, White used Snapchat to pose as a minor and coerced dozens of underage girls into sending explicit images and videos. A forensic review later showed he had sent more than 95,000 messages to over 1,400 unique users.
The case began in September 2023, when law enforcement in Midland, Michigan, received a complaint from the parents of a minor girl. They had discovered inappropriate Snapchat messages between their daughter and an account later traced to White in western Iowa. That discovery led investigators to obtain and execute search warrants on White’s electronics.
Agents found 14 videos and 180 images of child sexual abuse material, along with more than 20,000 images of child erotica. Prosecutors say some of the material involved prepubescent children and toddlers, and that White told at least one minor that “when she was legal,” he would “come get her.”
U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Strand sentenced White to 420 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. White remains in U.S. Marshal custody until he is transferred to a federal prison.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Justice Department initiative focused on identifying and prosecuting child exploitation offenders and rescuing victims. The investigation involved the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Midland County Michigan Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.
