High number of pending sex abuse cases in Linn County

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The Linn County Attorney’s Office has 66 sexual assault cases pending, the most in recent years, but prosecutors and advocates agree there doesn’t seem to be an alarming increase of incidents -- just more being reported to authorities

So far this year, 18 cases have been filed. One of the pending cases is from 2019 and the others were filed between 2020 and 2022.

The numbers of pending cases tend to go up and down every year, but many times, sex crimes -- especially ones involving children -- take longer going through the court system. Of the 66 pending cases, 43 involve a victim age 17 or under and 23 have an adult victim.

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Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said he thinks more survivors are speaking up when they have been harmed, which he encourages. Since being elected to office last year, he said he has made a “renewed commitment” to protect these vulnerable individuals.

Cedar Rapids police sex crimes investigators have been asking Maybanks to take a look at previous cases that were not filed, and he has requested to review some cases that came to his attention, he noted.

“If charges are warranted, we are going to stand up for our victims,” Maybanks said.

Linn County prosecutors filed 28 sex crime charges in 2019; 42 in 2020; 27 in 2021; 45 in 2022; and 18 so far this year. This include 23 second-degree sexual abuse and 28 third-degree sexual abuse felony charges. There also are five misdemeanor incest charges and 10 other charges — including lascivious acts, indecent contact and sexual exploitation.

Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith said her office has 36 pending cases, but she doesn’t know if that is higher than average. The office recently switched to a new case management system and is still in the process of transferring data.

She was able to determine, however, that more than 70 percent of the cases involve minor victims, and the oldest case pending is from 2021. Sex crime charges dropped after the pandemic struck, but they have steadily increased since.

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Johnson County prosecutors filed 35 sex crime cases in 2018; 42 in 2019; 25 in 2020; 32 in 2021; 34 in 2022; and nine in the first three months of this year.

Victim advocates

Gwen Bramlet-Hecker, executive director of the Riverview Center, which provides services in parts of Iowa and Illinois, said she wasn’t surprised about the number of pending cases in Linn County. The nonprofit has seen more individuals who were sexually abused during the pandemic just coming forward this year to get help.

Not all of Riverview’s referrals who seek therapy, treatment or other services go through the court system, but there has been an increase in its referrals from crisis response — victims being treated at hospitals — who may be involved in a court case, Bramlet-Hecker said. Riverview has offices in Linn and Jones counties, as well as 12 other Iowa counties and two in Illinois.

Overall, the 16 offices have seen about an 86 percent increase since 2020 of sexual abuse cases involving minors. Some of those could be attributed to children not being in school as much during the start of the pandemic and not being able to make disclosures outside the home, such as to a mandatory reporter like a teacher or counselor, Bramlet-Hecker said.

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In Linn County, it is also taking longer for these cases to get to trial, said Anastasia Basquin, chief victim liaison and community outreach specialist with Linn County Attorney’s Office. Based on the priority system, a defendant in jail who has demanded a speedy trial is prioritized over a defendant not in custody who have waived the right.

The longer the delay, the more difficult it is for child victims to remember details of a crime if they didn’t immediately report it -- which isn’t unusual, Maybanks noted.

The delayed reporting is usually because children don’t fully understand what happened at the time, they are ashamed, feel like nobody may believe them or have been threatened by the abuser, Basquin said.

Law enforcement challenges

Sgt. Josh McAlpin, who oversees the sex crimes unit for the Cedar Rapids Police Department, said the cases have increased in the last two years or so, but he didn’t have the data to give specific case numbers.

The three investigators of the unit now have an average caseload of 10 to 15, which is a significant number to handle, McAlpin said. The investigations can take weeks or months to complete before they send them to Maybanks to review and consider filing charges. Maybanks also may ask for additional investigation on some, he said.

Maybanks said the Cedar Rapids investigators — Tracy Johnson, Emily Shimp and Stacy Bay — have conducted “more thorough” investigations that help the prosecutors secure convictions for the victims.

“They have been great to work with,” he added.

McAlpin said the investigations also can take longer if social media is involved — communications between abuser and victim — because a search warrant must be sent to the social media company to access the content if the victim can’t provide it. The same is true for phone records to access text messages. On average, it might take six weeks to obtain the information, he said.

When investigators do receive the information, it doesn’t come in an easy-to-read report, McAlpin noted. It may be “jumbled,” and the department’s information technology staff has to review it and help investigators understand it.

Zimmermann Smith said social media and cellphone use has created more evidentiary opportunities, but there also is the challenge of getting information that will help the case and it increases the workload for investigators. Many local law enforcement agencies also have staffing issues and lack of resources to support complex cases.

“However, the ones who take the most challenging step in the process are the survivors, who summon the courage to come forward and disclose what happened to them,” Zimmermann Smith said.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com