An Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced Senate File 84 on Thursday morning. The bill relates to the sexual exploitation of a minor and provides penalties.
Washington County Attorney Josh Gish said the bill will increase penalties for various offenses such as possession of child pornography, decimation of child pornography, promoting child pornography as well as producing child pornography.
“None of those offenses have mandatory minimums,” Gish said. “All of those offenses are also deferred eligible. Somebody can produce child pornography and in theory not have that on their criminal history. I guess in my view I view all of those as unconscionable, unjust sentences.”
The bill moves each offense up one level, eliminates deferred judgment eligibility and provides a mandatory minimum for production of child pornography. It also addresses victim restitution.
“As you can imagine, these types of crimes don’t end for victims,” Gish said. “It’s ongoing trauma and for that, their images or likeness will be shared throughout the internet, through the dark webs. So I think having some form of restitution will be beneficial for victims.”
The Iowa County Attorneys Association is registered in support of the bill. Jessica Reynolds from the organization said prosecutors understand Iowa law as it relates to child pornography is a “joke.”
“We try and send most of our cases to the feds because we know that, I mean, they’re laughable quite frankly,” she said. “It’s ridiculous. What we’re seeing right now across this state is that there are so many (cases) the feds can’t take them all. Iowa code is wholly insufficient.”
Karl Schilling with the Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance said normally the group is not excited about mandatory sentences, but understands this crime is compulsive behavior.
“The longer a person is able to be treated, the better. The longer they’re in so they can mature, is better,” he said. “And at the very least, the longer the sentence, especially for a repeat offender, it means that instead of maybe 12 victims it’d be eight.”
The Attorney General’s office is in favor of the bill. They said when a photo of a victim is created, it’s something the victim “could never get back.”
The Iowa Association of Justice opposes the bill. Lisa Davis-Cook said the group has a “general rule” to oppose anything when it comes to increasing penalties such as mandatory minimums or removing deferred judgments.
The Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault expressed concern for older teens who may engage in “stupid sexting” that could get caught up in the law when they aren’t intended to be.
An individual from the Des Moines County Sheriff’s office said he started working on enticing cases. The effort started the first week of September with a Facebook account in the area.
“Since then, 14 people for enticing to meet up includes retired, older people, a college community teacher, sex offenders, people who used to be on the sex offender registry — that’s 14 people who actually came to meet up with us thinking I’m anywhere from 12-15,” he said.
The office uses an app to change the law enforcement member’s photo online to appear the age they intend to be.
“The very alarming part is we’ve had numerous men, one woman, send nude photos of themselves to us thinking that we’re 12-15 years old, then ask for nude photos to be sent in return before they come up and meet,” he said.
The potential offender will sometimes request for the supposed minor to go into the bathroom, hold up three fingers, send the photo for five seconds, etc.
“These are the pros,” he said. “They’ve had success meeting up. After you won’t do this, you kind of just quit talking to them.”
Unfortunately, the investigator said Iowa code is currently interpreted to mean the photos must be sent to an actual minor.
“Some people in our community, therefore, go on, you know, with obvious success before, they’re preying on our youth,” he said.
Just two nights ago, the investigator said a 12-year-old in West Burlington was on a social media app and was convinced to send a nude photo. His mother found out and the photos are out there and they are being extorted.
Even PlayStation 4 is a possible point of contact. The predators will start chatting, send a number and send photos.
“These are the ones being reported and caught,” he said. “These aren’t the ones doing it and not telling their parents. Parents don’t even know these predators are preying on their kid right from their own homes. It’s something alarming to us.”
Democrat State Sen. Janet Petersen asked what accountability there is for the various app companies. The investigator said it is hit-and-miss. They’ll report to Facebook about a registered sex offender attempting to make contact with their minor profile, but…
“They never get kicked off,” he said.
Petersen said she recently learned background checks on police officers do not include checking officers against the child abuse registry. She wants to make sure no “dirty cops are wearing the badge” and being able to entice minors.
Republican State Senators Dan Dawson and Rocky DeWitt agreed to move the bill through to full committee.
“Child pornography laws — nobody takes to state court because there are no teeth,” Dawson said. “It’s a joke here in Iowa.”
