An Ankeny man was booked into the Polk County Jail early Wednesday morning, facing seven counts of purchasing or possessing a depiction of a minor in a sex act. Joshua Smythe, 35, is accused of amassing images and videos over a span of years, with court records tracing the case back to a cybertip filed in early 2024.
According to WHO13 News, each of Smythe's seven counts is charged as a first offense under purchase/possess depiction of minor in sex act, per online court documents. The station reports that criminal complaints allege investigators located hundreds of images of boys in swim trunks, and that Smythe possessed multiple images and videos of child sexual abuse material on his phone and in his Amazon Photos account.
Court records cited by the station also describe many of the images as having been altered to make minors appear to be wearing provocative clothing or appear to be making out, according to criminal complaints. The same records indicate that Amazon Photos provided a CyberTip about child sexual abuse material found in Smythe's account on February 29, 2024, the station reports. Remaining charges in the case pertain to images Smythe allegedly possessed through September, per court records cited by the station.
Case Status Remains Unclear
As of the station's report, online court records listed no next court proceeding for Smythe. A booking alone does not establish guilt or outcome; the Polk County Sheriff's Office notes that an arrest record is not an indication of guilt and does not reflect how a case is ultimately resolved.
Under Iowa law, the offense Smythe is charged with falls under Iowa Code section 728.12, subsection 3, which makes it unlawful to knowingly purchase or possess a visual depiction of a minor. Per the Iowa Legislature, subsection 2 concerns knowingly promoting specified material and allows courts to assess a fine of up to $25,000 for each offense, on top of any other sentence imposed.
A Nationwide Surge in Reports
The Ankeny case lands amid a sharp rise in reports of online child exploitation nationally. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline received 1.4 million reports concerning online enticement in 2025, a 158% increase from the year before, according to NCMEC. Reports related to child sex trafficking jumped 323% over the same period, the organization's data shows.
NCMEC also reports that electronic service providers submitted 61.8 million images, videos and other files tied to suspected child sexual exploitation incidents in 2025, and the organization escalated more than 53,000 reports as urgent or involving a child in imminent danger. Child sexual abuse material remained the CyberTipline's largest reporting category last year, per the organization, which also logged more than 400,000 reports involving generative artificial intelligence, including over 182,000 tied to offenders possessing, generating or attempting to generate AI-produced material.
Tips to the CyberTipline have led to other recent Iowa arrests. In August, a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to the arrest of a 73-year-old Bryant, Iowa, man on allegations of possessing child sexual abuse materials, according to the Quad-City Times. No additional court dates or case developments had been reported for Smythe as of Wednesday.
