According to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, law enforcement arrested Parsons after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip. The tip alleged that Parsons had been both receiving and uploading files that contained child sexual abuse material.

According to court documents, an account identified as Parson’s uploaded the files containing child sexual abuse material to Google servers. Google provided investigators with a phone number belonging to Parsons and an IP address captured during the upload also matched Parson’s location.

During their investigation, the Iowa City Police Department found he had been communicating with minors for years, including one from Michigan who sent Parsons child sexual abuse material. According to the press release, Parsons also worked for traveling carnival companies for several years, which provided him with access to minors.

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According to the news release, Parsons will serve seven years in federal prison, and upon his release, he must serve a 10-year term of supervised release.

According to Congress.gov, supervised release is a period following a defendant’s release from prison. During this period, a probation officer monitors the defendant to make sure they are complying with all conditions of their release. Parsons is not eligible for parole because he is in the federal system.

The news release said Parsons’ case was brought as part of Project Childhood Safety, an initiative that was launched by the Department of Justice in 2006, with the goal of ending child sexual abuse and exploitation in the United States.

The Federal Public Defenders Office of the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa, which represented Parsons in this case, declined to comment on the sentencing.