DES MOINES, Iowa – An Ottumwa man was sentenced on September 6, 2024, to 40 years in federal prison for sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion of two victims, sex trafficking of one child, enticement and attempted enticement of two minors, and using the internet to facilitate prostitution after pleading guilty to all six charges in April 2024, roughly a week before his trial was scheduled to begin.

According to public court documents, from 2018 to 2023, Darnell Keith Jones, 32, victimized at least five individuals—two children and three adults—throughout parts of Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, including in the areas of Ottumwa, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Chicago. Jones successfully sex trafficked one adult and one child. To cause his victims to engage in sex acts in exchange for money, Jones used physical assaults, harassment, and threats. He also acted like a boyfriend to his victims, attempting to convince victims that they could demonstrate their loyalty and love by completing sex acts for money. Among other things, Jones threatened a victim with a knife, hit a victim with a brick, and choked and strangled victims with such force that his victims lost consciousness or even urinated. Jones raped one victim and attempted to rape another. Jones admitted that he drove his victims to locations where they completed sex acts for money and that he used various internet websites to advertise the adult victims.

Jones coerced and attempted to coerce two female children to engage in illegal sexual conduct, including prostitution. One child was just fourteen years old, and Jones used text-message communications to persuade the child to engage in prostitution and to engage in sex acts with him.

“This case and many similar cases have a lifelong impact on the victims, which is not something the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office takes lightly,” said Wapello County Sheriff Don Phillips. “Local, state, and federal agencies worked together towards the common goal of ensuring justice for the victims and protecting the community. I will always make sure the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office does our part in combating human trafficking in the State of Iowa.”

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This criminal case was investigated jointly by the Ottumwa Police Department, Wapello County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Wapello County Sheriff’s Office Detective Aaron McConnell, Ottumwa Police Department Investigator Jeremy Tosh, and Ottumwa Police Department Investigator Caleb Mitchell served as case agents, with assistance from Special Agent Hai Tran, of Homeland Security Investigations and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Kyle Essley and Laura Roan prosecuted the case.

Human trafficking is a crime involving the exploitation of youth under the age of 18 for commercial sex; the exploitation of adults for commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion; and the exploitation of any individual for compelled labor. Human trafficking does not require the transportation of individuals across state lines, or that someone is physically restrained. Signs that a person is being trafficked can include working excessively long hours, unexplained gifts, physical injury, substance abuse issues, running away from home, isolation from others, or having a person in their life controlling them or monitoring them closely. Victims particularly susceptible to being trafficked include those with criminal histories, a history of physical or sexual abuse, uncertain legal status, and dependency on controlled substances. Individuals who purchase sex from minors or from those who are otherwise exploited for commercial sex are also subject to prosecution for sex trafficking under federal law, if they knew or were in reckless disregard of the fact that they were under the age of 18, or that force, fraud, or coercion was used.

Anyone who suspects human trafficking is occurring, be it a minor engaging in paid sex acts, or anyone being coerced into prostitution or labor, is urged to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

(Radio Iowa) – Authorities are investigating a home explosion that injured two people in northwest Iowa. The explosion was reported just after 9 a.m. Monday at an address 2 miles northeast of Ottosen, in southwestern Kossuth County. Upon arrival, emergency workers confirmed two people were inside the home at the time and began a search.

44-year-old Catherine Fleischhacker was located under debris on the west side of the home and freed by Fire and EMS personnel. She was transported to Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona before being life-flighted to MercyOne Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City with undetermined injuries. 21-year-old Brett Lanning was able to crawl out of the debris on his own. He was taken to the Humboldt County Hospital for examination there.

The state fire Marshall’s office has been called in to determine what may have caused the explosion.

(Radio Iowa) – Libertarian candidates for three Iowa congressional seats who’ve been removed from the ballot vow to run write-in campaigns if the state’s highest court rules against them. In late August, a state panel ruled the Libertarian Party did not follow state law when it held county conventions on January 15th, the same day as the party’s caucuses. The Iowa Supreme Court’s justices heard legal arguments in the case this (Tuesday) morning.

Marco Battaglia of Des Moines is the candidate Libertarians nominated to run in Iowa’s third congressional district. Battaglia told reporters he took the time to make sure he did things the right way and the Republican Party’s challenge of his candidacy is unfair. “If they use lawfare to take me off the ballot, I will stay in until the end of the race regardless,” Battaglia says. “I plan to do that no matter what happened today or yesterday or tomorrow.” Charles Aldrich of Clarion, the Libertarian candidate in the fourth congressional district, is striking a hopeful tone about today’s (Tuesday’s) legal arguments.

“The justices had a lot of questions for both sides,” Aldrich told reporters, “so they were paying attention.”Alan Ostergren  is the attorney who represented the Republicans who challenged the Libertarian congressional candidates. Ostergren told the justices the Libertarian Party failed to follow the procedural steps for its county conventions. “They’re like an insurance policy for the elections process. They’re so that elections officials, when they have to make decisions on a quick timetable, know that there is regularity in the process,” Ostergren said. “…If the court says: ‘Well, we’re not going to enforce that ’cause, gosh it seems harsh,’ then there is no logical stopping place.”

Jennifer DeKoch, a lawyer representing one of the Libertarians kicked off the fall ballot, told the justices a ruling against her client would lead to similar challenges of other candidates. “The fundamental question before this court is does the failure to wait 181 minutes after caucus to begin convention justify kicking Libertarian candidates off the ballot and violating Iowa voters’ constitutional rights to political opportunity?” she asked rhetorically.

The Iowa Supreme Court’s chief justice indicated the court will issue its decision before tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:59 p.m. That is the deadline Iowa’s secretary of state has established for certifying the ballots in the first, third and fourth congressional districts — and getting those ballots printed on time.