Former Rapid City middle school teacher Andrew Hipakka was sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempted enticement of a minor on the internet.
The case involves 100-thousand images of child pornography over a two year period and Hipakka’s recorded live chat videos of minors he convinced to perform sex acts over the internet. Federal Judge Jeffrey Viken also sentenced Hipakka to a lifetime of supervised release.
Viken calls Hipakka a predator. Prosecutors say this case lead to arrests around the country and world.
Andrew Hippakka taught classes including sex education to middle school boys at a Rapid City Catholic School. Prosecutors say he was using his position to groom victims. Investigators found thousands of images taken from the internet and stored on Hippakka’s computers after a tip lead to a search of his home. Sarah Collins is a lead prosecutor on the case with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She praises the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for its work.
“This case was one of the most disturbing child pornography cases I have prosecuted. The sheer number of images and their content were shockingly violent and depicted unimaginable physical and sexual abuse and degradation of very, very young children,” says Collins.
Hipakka's Attorney, Gary Colbath, argued for the minim sentence of 10 years saying his client had a clean record prior to this incident and has shown real remorse for the crimes. But prosecutors balked, calling a 10 year sentence for this case laughable.
The information obtained in the investigation in Rapid City was sent to Homeland Security in London, where a man who was corresponding with Hipakka received an 18 year sentence for manufacturing child pornography and sexually abusing seven children who were aged 3 months to 5 years. Brent Gromer is the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Commander and says the work of investigators helped protect local children and those far outside Rapid City.
“It’s the most rewarding assignment I’ve had in law enforcement in that I think it’s the only assignment I’ve had where I can feel we can truly save children. There were seven children saved in this investigation in the United Kingdom because of efforts by the local Rapid City ICAC task force,” says Gromer.
Prosecutors say this case was only successful thanks to the cooperation of local, state, national and international investigators.