Ames flag burner charged with indecent exposure for Story County Jail incidents

An Ames man convicted of burning a church's LGBTQ flag has been charged with indecent exposure following several incidents at the Story County Jail in Nevada, according to court records.

Adolfo Martinez, 30, is serving a 17-year sentence for burning the church's flag in June 2019. According to court documents, an internal investigation looked at jail footage of Martinez and found multiple incidents when he made 'inappropriate” comments and performed sex acts in front of various female detention officers from Nov. 23, 2019, to Dec. 19. 2019.

On Nov. 30, Martinez allegedly told a female detention officer 'you smell freaking good,” and later footage showed him standing in the middle of his cell performing a sex act with his pants off, the criminal complaint said.

Later that same night, Martinez allegedly looked out his cell door and performed another sex act before officers entered his unit to perform a security check. During the check, the female officer saw Martinez sitting on his bed where he was performing another sex act with his pants off and smiled at her.

After the detention officer returned to her desk, she communicated with Martinez over the jail's intercom system and told him 'if the behavior continued, he could be charged, to which he responded, ‘oh I know,' ” the complaint said.

Martinez previously has been found guilty of a hate crime, third-degree harassment and being an habitual offender. Indecent exposure is a serious misdemeanor. If he's found guilty, it will be up to a judge whether the possible year sentence is added to his current sentence, or served separately, Story County Attorney Tim Meals said.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 24 in Nevada.