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A Gates man was sentenced to 1,027 months in prison Monday, Aug. 8, in connection with an online child exploitation investigation reported in April 2020 to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

According to Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan, an investigation revealed that 39-year-old John DiMolfetto created dozens of personas and used numerous social media and texting accounts to manipulate, deceive and exploit children as young as 7 years old over a decade.

Investigators believe DiMolfetto either exploited or attempted to exploit more than 300 children across the United States in the six m...