Pieper Lewis had said immediately after her sentencing that she wanted Gov. Kim Reynolds to pardon her, but that never happened. She also has to pay $150,000 to the family of the man who allegedly raped her multiple times.
A teenage sex trafficking victim is missing after violating the conditions of her probation, officials said.
Pieper Lewis, 19, was sentenced to five years of supervised provision for the 2020 killing of Zachary Brooks after agreeing to a deal with prosecutors that saw her plead guilty to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter and willful injury after initially being charged with first-degree murder. Lewis was just 15 when she was sex trafficked. She alleged that Brooks was one of the men who raped her multiple times.
She was also ordered to pay $150,000 to the family of the man who allegedly raped her multiple times.
But now the Iowa Department of Corrections says that Lewis' whereabouts have been unknown since April and that she has also failed to check in with her parole officer or charge her GPS device.
Lewis started her probation period in Des Moines at Fresh Start Women's Center in Des Moines, but ran into trouble there after less than a year for repeated probation violations. A copy of Lewis' violation report from Fresh Start in November 2022 shows that almost all of these infractions involved Lewis arriving 10 minutes late to the facility while traveling back from work. That report also claims that Lewis tried to escape the facility at some point.
Then, in May 2023, Lewis' violations and an escape attempt brought the case before a judge. She had been facing up to 20 years in prison for violating the conditions of her release, but instead the judge agreed to put her back on probation.
“You’ve asked for a second chance. You don’t get a third," said District Judge David M. Porter at that time.
Now, Lewis is facing a possible sentence of 21 years.
Officials transferred Lewis to a facility in the Atlanta area in November, according to the arrest warrant released by the Iowa Department of Corrections. In March, Lewis was asked to leave that facility for breaking rules such as having a cell phone, according to the warrant.
Lewis then appeared in court, at which time she told the judge that she did not have a home. She then met with officers who fitted her with a GPS ankle monitor and instructed her to check in with her parole office.
That was the last time officials say they saw Lewis. She failed to make it to a single meeting with her parole officer and never charged the batteries in her ankle monitor, authorities said.
Lewis had said immediately after her sentencing that she wanted Gov. Kim Reynolds to pardon her, but that did not happen.
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