Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Exploiting a Child in Vinton, Iowa, and to Possessing Child Pornography

A man who sexually exploited a child in Vinton, Iowa, in 2022, pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids. Dennis Tomas Greehy, age 38, most recently from Melbourne, Florida, was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography.

In a plea agreement, Greehy admitted that he started talking online with a 13-year-old child in 2020. He asked the child to send him nude photos and videos, and the child did so. On multiple occasions, starting when the child was 14 years old, Greehy traveled from North Carolina to Iowa City and had sex with the child. In the summer of 2022, he rented an apartment in Vinton and he had sex with the child in that apartment. He also recorded the child engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Greehy then moved to Florida but continued to communicate with the child, asking for photos and videos of the child engaged in sex acts. He also traveled back to Iowa to have sex with the child. In June 2026, law enforcement officers arrested Greehy in Florida and seized his phone. On his phone were several depictions of the child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

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 Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Greehy remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Greehy faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years' imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, $77,200 in special assessments, and a lifetime term of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and was investigated by the Iowa City Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Brevard County, Florida, Sheriff's Office, and the Melbourne, Florida, Police Department.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.plLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

The case file number is 26-CR-46.

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