Coralville man found not guilty on sex abuse charges

IOWA CITY — A Coralville man who was arrested in April 2022 on charges that he sexually abused a 4-year-old child was found not guilty of all charges by a jury Monday.

Jeffrey Dodds, 65, was charged with three counts of third-degree sexual abuse, after the child reportedly told her grandmother, and later investigators, that Dodds had touched her inappropriately while she attended day care in his home, according to a search warrant request filed early in the investigation and made available after the trial ended Monday.

Dodds and his wife, former Coralville City Council member Jill Dodds, owned and operated Simple Abundance Child Care since 1998, according to the center’s website, which has been removed from the internet. The facility “voluntarily surrendered their license on Dec. 31, 2021,” Alex Carfrae, spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Human Services, said after Dodds was arrested.

Jill Dodds resigned from the city council in April 2022 after Coralville Mayor Meghann Foster asked her to resign because of her husband’s arrest.

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