Man gets 120 years in prison after raping girl for years, livestreaming attacks

IOWA – A child predator who attacked a young girl for years will spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

Steven Crook Jr., of Bloomfield, was sentenced to 120 years in federal prison Tuesday. Evidence shows Crook abused the child starting when she was an infant, and often livestreamed the rapes on the internet.

The judge described the crimes as "horrific," calling Crook "very dangerous" to children in the community.

According to a criminal complaint, Crook had recordings of the abuse on several electronic storage devices, one of which contained a folder named "child porn and baby rape," the Des Moines Register reports.

U.S. Attorney Marc Krickbaum said Crook belongs in federal prison and "we want to make sure that other defendants like him, who are a threat to our children, face the stiffest penalties federal law allows."

Krickbaum said in a news release that the punishment is the maximum possible time for Crook's crimes.