Creston man arrested on federal porn charges

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CNA managing editor Kent Merrill Adamson, 45, of Creston was charged Tuesday with transporting obscene materials to a minor and coercion and exploitation of a minor — both felony charges. Creston Police picked up Adamson on a federal warrant and transported him to Des Moines where he was turned over to U.S. Marshals. According to the warrant and affidavit, the charges are the result of an investigation in related incidents between Jan. 29 and July 26 in which Adamson used the Internet to engage in sexual activity with a minor. An agent with Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force stated a special FBI agent was working undercover and claimed to be a 14 year old female from Portland, Ore. That agent entered an Internet chat room called “Romance, Adult, Fetish 15” from the Yahoo Web site and was approached by an individual, now identified as Adamson, who identified himself as a 35-year-old single dad of three children living in Iowa. Over the course of time Adamson had 23 chat conversations with the supposed 14-year-old. Nearly all of these chats were sexually oriented or sexually explicit, the affidavit states. Meeting Furthermore, the document states, during at least four of those conversation Adamson specifically discussed meeting the “girl” for the purpose of having sex and graphically described what he would do to her if they met. On seven different occasions Adamson invited the “girl” to view video produced by his webcam, in which he was performing obscene acts. In March, Adamson provided a phone number and video of his face, which the special agent was able to trace to Adamson. Adamson also indicated he was a teacher and coach. The special agent was able to confirm that Adamson was a paraprofessional at Creston Middle School. Adamson was formerly an assistant high school cross country coach, middle and high school wrestling coach and middle school track and cross country coach. He has been active in community athletic activities, including Creston baseball and softball and past president of Creston Little League. Search On July 26, a search warrant was issued for Adamson’s residence at 509 N. Birch St. and executed by Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Three computers, various computer storage media and documents were seized as a result of the search. Adamson was interviewed by a special FBI agent that same day. According to the affidavit, Adamson admitted to chatting with the girl he thought to be 14 years old, engaging in sexually explicit conversations with her and showing her videos of himself in a sexual act. Adamson also admitted he had talked to her about meeting for the purpose of having sex, but he told the agent he had no intention of actually meeting her and that it was all just “fantasy.” The affidavit in no way implicated the Creston School District computers nor indicated Adamson acted in any way inappropriately at Creston schools. Dismissed Creston School District Superintendent Tim Hood, said as soon as school officials were made aware of an investigation of Adamson, appropriate action was taken. “Mr. Adamson has been on administrative leave since the beginning of the school year,” Hood said in a prepared statement Tuesday. “Since then, he has not been on campus at any of the district’s schools, other than an extra curricula event. The administrative leave was implemented in response to an outside investigation. The district is not aware of any allegations of misconduct occurring at school and the district is not aware of any allegations of misconduct involving a Creston School District student. The school district intends to cooperate in any outside investigation.” In a Creston News Advertiser interview Tuesday, Hood said the one extracurricular event Adamson attended was approved by the school district’s attorney at the request of Adamson. Adamson remains in custody by federal agents in Des Moines. —————— Stephani Finley can be reached at (641) 782-2141 ext. 237 or sfinley@crestonnews.com