Daniel Kaler, a 38-year-old resident of Sioux City, Iowa, pleaded guilty on September 8, 2025, in federal court to possessing child pornography.
During the plea hearing, Kaler admitted that between November 2023 and October 2024 he received and possessed more than 7,000 images and videos of child pornography. The materials included depictions involving sadistic or masochistic conduct as well as prepubescent children, infants, and toddlers. The investigation began after Verizon’s cloud storage service submitted a CyberTip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that traced the downloads back to Kaler’s account. Law enforcement obtained and executed a search warrant for Kaler’s electronic devices. Analysis revealed he used third-party browsers “Brave” and “Yandex” to search for and download the illegal material.
Kaler was taken into custody by the United States Marshal following his guilty plea and will remain in custody until sentencing. Sentencing will be scheduled after preparation of a presentence report before United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. He faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release after any imprisonment; there is no parole in the federal system.
The prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative started by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at fighting child sexual exploitation and abuse by bringing together resources from federal, state, and local agencies to locate offenders and rescue victims. More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.usdoj.gov/psc.
