Iowa City man sentenced to 10 years for sex abuse of 14-year-old girl

IOWA CITY — An Iowa City man, who was convicted last year for federal child pornography charges, was sentenced Monday in state court to 10 years in prison for sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl in 2020.

Luke Kenneth Beckner, 21, previously pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse of the 14-year-old girl over a period of four weeks, according to a criminal complaint. Beckner, 19 at the time, met the girl on Snapchat and they began talking. He then picked her up on different occasions and drove her to his home to have sex.

According to the complaint, records obtained during the investigation corroborated the victim’s account of the incidents.

Beckner initially denied having sex with the minor.

He also was charged with picking up two 14-year-old girls he met through Snapchat between Dec. 22 and 23 of 2020, taking them to his home and giving them marijuana. The charge of distributing drugs to a minor was dismissed Monday as part of the plea agreement.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Paul Miller sentenced Beckner to 10 years in prison and also ordered him to be on the sex offender registry for life, as well as serve a special sentence of lifetime parole.

Miller also ordered a five-year no contact order against Beckner to protect the victim.

Beckner declined to make a statement during sentencing.

The victim also didn’t provide a statement to the court.

Beckner was convicted last year in federal court for two counts of unlawful receipt of child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years on each count.

According to the federal plea, the child pornography charges stem from the investigation conducted by the Iowa City Police Department regarding the sexual abuse.

Snapchat records revealed hundreds of conversations Beckner had with numerous minors and 61 girls were identified, according to the federal plea agreement. At least three of these were minors and were interviewed as part of the investigation.

There were two 16-year-old girls identified as having contact with Beckner through Snapchat, the plea stated. He solicited explicit photos and videos from them. One of the girls admitted to receiving and completing a “girlfriend application” that was located in Beckner’s computer files, which revealed her actual age. This teen lived in Pennsylvania and they talked about meeting in person but never did.

Another 16-year-old he met through the social media app also sent him explicit photos and videos when he requested. But he also met this teen and would pick up from school in Linn County and drive her back to his house in Iowa City to have sex.

Beckner’s sentencing on the federal convictions hasn’t been set at this time.

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