Judge delays sentencing for Hiawatha man until he gets new lawyer

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Hiawatha man, who forced a Dubuque teen to have sex with multiple men in exchange for money, received a temporary delay Tuesday of being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Ian Thornhill decided to appoint another lawyer for Jarod Earl Anderson, 35, after Anderson told him there had been a breakdown in his relationship with his trial lawyers, Austin Luse and Bryan Tingle.

Thornhill had letters Anderson had written to the court after his trial, stating he had issues with his lawyers. He didn’t complain during trial.

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Thornhill cleared the courtroom, except for Anderson and his lawyers, so Anderson could explain those issues. When the hearing was reconvened, Thornhill told Anderson his issues were matters he couldn’t address as trial and sentencing judge. Those issues could be handled in postconviction proceedings. However, Thornhill said he could appoint new counsel to handle Anderson’s sentencing.

Anderson, sitting at the defense’s table, responded by looking over at a photographer in the courtroom and winking.

Thornhill said he would reset the sentencing to a later date.

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In February, a Linn County jury deliberated about 90 minutes before finding Anderson guilty on four charges — human trafficking of a minor, third-degree sexual abuse, pimping, and two charges of sexual exploitation of a minor.

In 2023, the Iowa Legislature changed the human trafficking of a minor law to increase the penalty to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

This was the first case charged in Linn County and the first to go to trial in Iowa under the new human trafficking of a minor law.

Teen’s testimony recounted trafficking

The Dubuque teen, who was 17 at the time of the incidents on May 21 and 22, 2024, testified last month she was sexually abused by Anderson after he gave her alcohol and psilocybin mushrooms and held her in a hotel room to have sex with “multiple, different men” in exchange for money.

The victim, now 18, didn’t recall many details of the first night of her ordeal except that “bad things” happened, including being “raped” twice by Anderson.

The teen recalled Anderson taking photos of her naked at the hotel on his cellphone. A woman, Tana Torres, was with Anderson and the teen during the incidents.

The teen said she had planned to try to see a her friend who lived in Cedar Rapids but instead, “he sold me to multiple, different men.”

During these incidents, the teen had her phone and tried to contact her sisters and others for help. She never called the police because she was “scared,” she testified. Anderson told her “bad things would happen” if she did, she said. She also was worried about her outstanding warrant if she contacted police.

The teen said Anderson left the room when men arrived to have sex with her. Sometime on May 22, she got out of the hotel room while Anderson was away, but Torres and two men were there.

She was rescued by a former youth service worker with Four Oaks, who her mom had called to help and he and another woman called the police.

Police testified investigators found Anderson’s DNA and the DNA of an unknown male in the teen’s underwear.

Torres, 50, of Cedar Rapids, who testified at trial, corroborated some of the 17-year-old’s testimony but recalled some portions differently, while admitting she had been intoxicated with liquor and drugs during the May incidents.

Torres was charged with human trafficking a minor, second-degree sexual abuse, conspiracy to commit a forcible felony and prostitution, but was offered a plea agreement if she testified truthfully about the events involving the teen.

She pleaded to three charges of prostitution and conspiracy to commit prostitution, all aggravated misdemeanors. Torres was sentenced to up to eight years in prison.

Anderson also took the stand in his own defense. He denied trafficking the minor and denied Torres worked for him as a prostitute.

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