Alexander Alusheff

Lansing State Journal

GRAND RAPIDS – A 70-year-old man from Nashville, Michigan, faces decades in prison for a rape conviction and for receiving 650,000 images and videos of child pornography on his computers.

U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney sentenced David Heinsen to 20 years in federal prison on Monday in Grand Rapids. He will serve 15 years of that sentence after he finishes a 40-to-60-year sentence for the rape of an eight-year-old girl with Down Syndrome in his home over 20 years ago in Barry County, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

“This case represents the immense damage a person with a sexual interest in children can do over the course of a lifetime, whether through hands-on sexual abuse of children or trading in child pornography, or both,” said U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Miles in the release. “Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in the Western District of Michigan will continue to work together to identify and prosecute offenders and give a voice to child victims.”

Heinsen pleaded guilty in January to one count of receipt of child pornography in the federal case and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in state court for the abuse of the 8-year-old, whom he had film negatives of, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He also admitted to molesting at least two other children in Ohio, who have yet to be identified, the government said.

Records in Barry County Circuit Court show prosecutors dismissed three other counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in exchange for Heinsen's guilty plea. He was sentenced in the Barry County case on Feb. 16, the records show.

Maloney ordered Heinsen to pay $12,000 in restitution to his victim, who is now an adult, according to the release. The other victims in the child pornography Heinsen received and possessed did not seek restitution, but some of them provided written statements about the devastating toll that the ongoing trade of their images has taken on their lives.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tessa K. Hessmiller prosecuted the federal case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse.

Contact Alexander Alusheff at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.