Cartersville man sentenced to 20 years for production of child pornography

A Cartersville man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for producing child pornography following a series of disturbing crimes targeting minors. Ian Alicea Prewett is a sexual predator who enticed and victimized innocent children, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

From 2020 to 2022, Prewett exploited the anonymity of the internet to upload sexually explicit images of children to Instagram, which ultimately led to his identification. Federal agents, after tracing the digital evidence, recognized Prewett as the person responsible for the illegal uploads and obtained a warrant to search his home, where they found a cell phone linked to the criminal activity; Meanwhile, Prewett was already facing charges of statutory rape, child molestation and child enticement in Cobb County.

The investigation, which spanned both sides of the Atlantic, found that one of Prewett’s victims was a child under the age of eight from the United Kingdom, who he had coerced into sending him sexually explicit content. U.S. District Judge William M. Ray II imposed Prewett’s sentence following his guilty plea on April 24, 2024, resulting in a 20-year prison sentence followed by an equal period of supervised release.

Prewett’s conviction highlights the ongoing dangers of online child exploitation, an area where Homeland Security Investigations and local partners such as the Cobb County Police Department, Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and international agencies such as the Wiltshire Police ( UK) actively working to dismantle networks of abuse; “This sentence represents a victory in the ongoing fight to protect our most vulnerable citizens – our children,” Steven N. Schrank, Acting Special Agent in Charge, said in the news release.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Theodore S. Hertzberg and Calvin A. Leipold, III prosecuted the case, which is part of the larger Project Safe Childhood initiative. Launched by the Attorney General in February 2006, this nationwide initiative aims to protect children from online exploitation and abuse, marshaling resources to arrest and prosecute those who prey on children.