Authorities in Iowa continue to hunt for an 18-year-old sex trafficking victim who walked away from a women’s shelter where she was serving probation after pleading guilty to killing a man she said raped her.
An arrest warrant was issued for Pieper Lewis, who was seen walking out of the Fresh Start Women’s Centre in Des Moines shortly after 6.15am on Friday, according to a report filed with the court by a probation officer and the shelter’s residential supervisor.
The report said Lewis cut off the GPS monitor she was ordered to wear as part of her sentence before she left the facility.
Lewis’ public defence lawyer did not immediately respond to messages on Monday.
A Black teen sex-trafficking victim who killed her alleged rapist fled probation, and may face <20 years in prison.
Pieper Lewis says he raped her when she was 15.
Iowa has no immunity for trafficking victims. She was ordered to 5 years probation and to pay $150K compensation. pic.twitter.com/GYyD52ovqhAdvertisement— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 7, 2022
Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Nick Crawford said Lewis had not been found as of Monday afternoon.
Des Moines Police spokesman Paul Parizek said the force was notified by state corrections officials that Lewis had walked away from the shelter and information was broadcast to officers to watch for her. He said she will be taken into custody if found and turned over to corrections officials.
Polk County Judge David Porter sentenced Lewis in September to probation for five years to be served at the women’s shelter. He also gave her a deferred judgement, which meant her conviction would be expunged from her record if she completed the requirements of her probation. Mr Porter warned Lewis at her sentencing hearing that by affording her an opportunity to avoid prison he was giving her a second chance. “You don’t get a third,” he said.
Lewis had faced a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter and wilful injury in the June 2020 killing of 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, a married father of two. Lewis was 15 when she stabbed Brooks over 30 times in a Des Moines apartment.
Corrections officials have asked the court to hold a hearing on their request to revoke her probation and deferred judgment and send her to prison.
Lewis said she was trafficked against her will to Brooks for sex multiple times and stabbed him in a fit of rage after he forced her to have sex with him again. Police and prosecutors did not dispute Lewis was sexually assaulted and trafficked. The man she accused of forcing her to have sex with men, including Brooks, has never been charged.
KCCI has confirmed Pieper Lewis (teenager who pled guilty to killing the man she was trafficked to and raped by) has ESCAPED from the Fresh Start facility in Des Moines. Jerry Evans (executive director of the 5th Judicial District) tells us she escaped and cut off her tracker.
— Beau Bowman KCCI (@BeauBowmanKCCI) November 5, 2022
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Court documents indicate Lewis was allowed to leave the women’s shelter to work at a local pizza restaurant. However, since October 13 seven incidents were noted in which she did not promptly return to the shelter from work, a violation of shelter rules, the papers showed. The filings indicate authorities were keeping a close eye on her movements through the GPS monitor. Other violations were also noted, including an unauthorised meeting with someone she dated in secondary school.
The 48-bed shelter is in a neighbourhood north west of Des Moines city centre. It is operated by the Department of Corrections for women on parole, work release or on pretrial release.
Mr Porter had also ordered Lewis to pay 150,000 US dollars (£130,033) restitution to Brooks’ estate, a move many people found to be outrageous. Mr Porter said Iowa law required the restitution. Court records show Lewis’s lawyer has asked the judge to reconsider and Mr Porter ordered lawyers to file briefs on the issue by November 10. He indicated he would release a decision within 30 days.
Lewis’ public defence lawyer Matthew Sheeley wrote in a document filed in September after Lewis’ sentencing hearing that her 28-year-old sex trafficker put a knife to her neck and forced her to go with Brooks “to ‘turn a trick’ for 50 dollars” (£43) of cannabis. He said the seriousness of her offence should be diminished by the fact Brooks raped her before she stabbed him.
Mr Sheeley asked Mr Porter to amend his judgment and find the restitution order is excessive and violates Lewis’s constitutional rights.
A GoFundMe campaign started by a secondary school teacher who taught Lewis has raised more than 560,000 dollars (£485,000). No new donations are being accepted, according to the site.
The teacher, Leland Schipper, told The Des Moines Register he has not been in contact with Lewis since her sentencing in September and he is heartbroken she has left the shelter and is concerned about her safety. He said the money remains with GoFundMe and he and Lewis do not have access to it.
Court records indicate the restitution has not yet been paid.
