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Network Celebrates 20th Anniversary and Needs Your Help

Donate on our website now. Thank you in advance for your support!

We are the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery (NAHT). Founded on June 23, 2005, we were the first and remain the only statewide non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to ending human trafficking in Iowa.

In honor of our 20th anniversary, we are soliciting your support. Our campaign goal is to raise $20,000. Whether it’s $20, $200, or $2,000, every donation we receive strengthens our efforts in linking arms against human trafficking.

At the NAHT, we educate and engage Iowans on the growing problem of sex and labor trafficking in Iowa. We provide collaboration and coordination amongst Iowa’s non-profits, the faith community, state agencies, 14 regional coalitions, and volunteers working to end Human Trafficking.

The NAHT is the leading advocate for improving public policy and legislation. Since its inception, the NAHT has been successful in advocating for the passage of 31 bills with bipartisan support.

At any given time, there is an average of 320 trafficking victims in Iowa. Last year, just over 600 victims became survivors here in Iowa.

Your participation in our 20th anniversary campaign will help the NAHT continue to provide public awareness of human trafficking issues. You will also help us continue collaboration and communication between anti-trafficking nonprofit organizations and Iowa’s public agencies such as DHHS, the Attorney General’s Office, the Iowa Secretary of State, the Department of Public Safety, and the Governor’s office.

None of the progress and achievements of the last 20 years would have been possible without the indispensable support and contributions of anti-trafficking advocates such as you.

Ways you can help us to reach our $20,000 goal:

  • Share our 20th anniversary campaign with your church, service club, and friends. Invite them to join the cause.
  • Make your own donation on our website now
  • Mail a check to Iowa NAHT, 5508 Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50014

Human Trafficking Iowa Law Enforcement Tip Line Announced

A new DPS Tip Line has been created by the Office to Combat Human Trafficking. Recently, the NAHT Board of Directors met with Ray Fiedler, coordinator for the DPS Office to Combat Human Trafficking. The NAHT Board decided to include the tip line number on our new 6×4-inch stickers.

20 states have already established their own tip line stickers, and Iowa is now following their lead because the national hotline is not sharing tip information with law enforcement without the caller’s permission. Most victims who call do not want to share the information with the police because they fear for their safety, and also fear being arrested.

Update on 2025 Iowa Human Trafficking Legislation

Here is a description of current human trafficking-related bills and their activity status.

Woman sentenced for pimping after sex trafficking charges at Des Moines massage parlor

Courtesy of the Des Moines Register

A Des Moines woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison in connection with a prostitution ring operating from a massage parlor in north Des Moines.

Huiring Zhou, 43, was arrested in May 2024 and initially faced multiple charges of human trafficking. Prosecutors alleged she had been part of a scheme to recruit at least three people for involuntary servitude or commercial sex work, and that she had taken or concealed government identity documents from those individuals to make it harder for them to leave. Police said at the time that three victims were rescued as a result of a months-long investigation by the Des Moines police vice and narcotics unit.

The trafficking was alleged to have occurred at 852 Hull Ave., a commercial building on the boundary of the Union Park and Highland Park neighborhoods that housed a number of Asian-themed massage parlors under different names, dating back at least to 2016. One of those parlors was among the subjects of a three-part 2019 investigative series by Des Moines Register Reader’s Watchdog Lee Rood, who sent customers equipped with recording devices to the establishments to document that the women there were, as reported on a website, providing sexual services.

Zhou was scheduled to go to trial in April, but on Wednesday, she entered a plea of guilty to lesser charges. In a deal with prosecutors, she admitted to pimping, a felony, and three counts of leasing premises for prostitution.

The deal makes no mention of coercion or trafficking, only that Zhou leased rooms to the three individuals and did not terminate their leases when she learned they were engaged in prostitution.

Through her attorney, Zhou waived a separate sentencing hearing, and court filings show that on Thursday, Judge Joseph Seidlin sentenced her to five years for pimping and one year for each of the premises charges, for a consecutive total of eight years.

Zhou’s attorney declined to comment on the resolution of the case.

One Year Since Pieper Lewis Went Missing

Courtesy of the Des Moines Register

A year after Pieper Lewis fled while on probation for the second time, Iowa authorities still don’t know the whereabouts of the Des Moines sex-trafficking victim who admitted fatally stabbing a man she said raped her repeatedly.

Just 15 at the time of the June 2020 killing, she initially was charged with first-degree murder. Lewis, now 20, entered a guilty plea a year later in adult court. Convicted of voluntary manslaughter and willful injury, she could have been ordered to serve up to 20 years in prison.

But as she awaited sentencing in fall 2021, her case began drawing wide attention after she gave a Des Moines Register reporter an account of her experience that one top state law enforcement official called a “perfect example” of human trafficking.

Lewis said in a plea agreement that she ran away from home in March 2020 to escape abusive parents, then sheltered in an apartment building stairwell before she was taken in by a 28-year-old man. She said the man forced her to have sex with other men for money, including with Zachary Brooks, 37, who she said raped her five times while she was unconscious in mid-May 2020.

Lewis said in a plea agreement that on May 31, 2020, the man again coerced her to go to Brooks’ apartment against her will to perform sex acts in exchange for $50 worth of marijuana and threatened her with a knife to force her to comply. Brooks raped her again, she said in her plea, and when he fell asleep, she found a knife on his nightstand and stabbed him until he was dead.

In a plea agreement, Lewis described her actions as a snap decision made after she was taken advantage of again.

“I suddenly realized that Mr. Brooks had raped me yet again, and (I) was overcome with rage,” Lewis wrote in her plea.

Police detectives and Polk County prosecutors never disputed that Lewis was trafficked. Her trafficker, whom the Register has not named because he has not been charged with a crime, still has not been charged.

In September 2022, Lewis, still a juvenile, received a deferred judgement in the case, with Judge David Porter placing her in a halfway house and telling her he was giving her a second chance, but she wouldn’t get a third.

Porter also ordered that, as required by state law, Lewis pay $150,000 in restitution to Brooks’ estate. That sparked a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $500,000 from supporters around the country to cover the restitution.

At least initially, Lewis was not given access to the funds. GoFundMe declined to comment on whether Lewis was ever able to use the money.

While on probation at the women’s transitional center, she initially worked for a restaurant in downtown Des Moines. But in November 2021, she cut off her court-ordered ankle monitor and walked away from the center.

She was arrested days later, and told the Register she left because she felt overwhelmed and endangered in a facility where the other residents were mainly adult women who had recently been released from prison and were stuck in a criminal lifestyle.

“That was a trigger, just reminding me of my past life,” Lewis said, adding that she was cut off from people she considered her support system.

It was behavior that experts said was almost inevitable for a child sex trafficking victim trying to find some sense of security after the chaos and abuse.

When Porter in May 2023 revoked Lewis’ deferred conviction, he acceded to requests that he grant her a third chance, allowing her to be placed in a treatment center for young offenders that both her attorneys and prosecutors agreed would be more appropriate for her.

Read what happened in Georgia.

Support Federal H.R. 1379

A bipartisan federal bill, H.R.1379, the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act of 2025, introduced by Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) would provide for the vacating of certain convictions and expungement of certain arrests of victims of human trafficking. Our Advocacy Committee has set federal expungement and vacatur as top priorities for our federal legislative work in 2025.

Essentially, what expungement and vacatur do is allow a survivor to ask a court to legally “erase” their convictions and criminal records. This is commonly called “record relief” because if a criminal record remains it can cause problems for survivors accessing employment, child custody, housing, and other daily needs.

At present, H.R. 1379 has 11 co-sponsors and is pending before the House Judiciary Committee. The co-sponsors are: Rep. Lieu [D-CA-36], Rep. Wagner [R-MO-2], Rep. Garcia [D-CA-42], Rep. Johnson [D-GA-4], Rep. Dingell [D-MI-6], Rep. Bera [D-CA-6], Rep. Biggs [R-AZ-5], Rep. Landsman [D-OH-1], Rep. Lawler [R-NY-17], Rep. Sykes [D-OH-13], Rep. Donalds [R-FL-19].

Please contact Iowa Representatives and ask them to cosponsor and help pass H.R. 1379.

Cedar Rapids Child Sex Trafficker Sentencing Postponed Until June 27

The NAHT March newsletter had a lead story about a Cedar Rapids child sex trafficker who was convicted following six days of testimony. A courageous teen survivor was the primary witness and gave compelling testimony. The jury brought back its unanimous decision with only 90 minutes of deliberation. The teen survivor received services and support from Chains Interrupted and its CEO Teresa Davidson.

Statement from Teresa Davidson following the April 1 sentencing

THANK YOU to everyone who showed up on April 1 to stand in solidarity with the teen victimized in the Jarod Earl Anderson human trafficking case! While the teen survivor couldn’t be present at the hearing, I was able to speak with her afterward and share how her community rallied around her in support. She was deeply moved and wants to express her heartfelt gratitude to each of you.

As many of you know—whether you were present or saw my social media updates—sentencing was delayed until June 27. The defendant requested new counsel, claiming an irreparable breakdown in his attorney-client relationship. He also alleged that he had sent a letter to the judge that was never received. These delay tactics, while frustrating, are not uncommon in cases like this.

Many of you reached out to check on me after the hearing—thank you for that! After spending over a week and a half in that courtroom, listening to heartbreaking testimony about the trauma this teen (and others) endured, it was incredibly difficult to hear the judge emphasize concerns like, “We want the defendant to be comfortable with his attorneys” and “We want to make sure the defendant’s rights are upheld.” My thoughts naturally questioned—where was that concern for the teen’s comfort, her rights, and the life-altering impact this has had on her?

It was deeply unsettling to be the recipient of his side-eye look and smirk, and watch him smile, then wink at the media! It was difficult for ALL of us who had been in the courtroom during the trial. One of the jurors was present and in tears after the hearing. I dreaded having to tell the teen that sentencing was delayed. But here’s what matters: This is only a delay. The verdict still stands. He remains in jail and will stay there until he is sent to prison for the rest of his life without the possibility of parole.

Please know that the teen in this case feels your love and support, and she is profoundly grateful to know so many people care about her.

Iowa Business Owner Receives Multiple Life Sentences for Decades of Sexually Exploiting Teens

Courtesy of the Des Moines Register

A one-time Ames nurse and business owner has been ordered to serve 15 life sentences in federal prison — one for each of the 14 teens he pleaded guilty — in one case twice — to molesting over a period of decades.

Carl Markley’s Ames businesses included Inside Golf and Perfect Games, and he ran his own medical office called the Wellness Clinic. In 2023, he was charged with sex trafficking, sexual exploitation of a child and possessing child pornography, and in November, he pleaded guilty to 15 counts of sex trafficking by fraud or coercion.

Prosecutors have described a series of schemes dating back to the late 1990s and potentially including hundreds of victims. They said Markley, now 46, approached young men claiming he was performing research on human sexuality or worked for a condom manufacturer, or that as an employer he needed to conduct physical examination of his young male employees for insurance reasons.

In each case, they say, he used his access, and in many cases his control over the victims’ finances, employment and even housing, to pressure them into letting him perform sex acts on them, often recording them with hidden cameras.

On March 24, Markley appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge Stephanie Rose, who sentenced him to concurrent life sentences for each count. Rose addressed her remarks mainly to Markley’s victims, urging them to get professional help to unwind the consequences of his abuse.

“I can tell you with absolute certainty, this was not your fault,” she said. “Not the parents’ fault, not the teen’s fault, no one’s fault but the defendant.”

Before the sentencing, the court heard numerous statements from the victims and their families, many of whom packed the Des Moines courtroom to capacity.

Trump Administration Cuts 69 Global Child Labor and Human Trafficking Programs

Courtesy of The Guardian

The Donald Trump administration has terminated 69 international programs aimed at combating child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking, potentially undermining decades of progress in protecting vulnerable workers globally.

The Washington Post obtained an email detailing how the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) will immediately end grants totaling more than $500 million that supported labor standard enforcement across 40 countries, including critical initiatives in Mexico, Central America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

John Clark, a Trump-appointed official, in the email justified the cuts by citing a “lack of alignment with agency priorities and national interest.” The department’s spokesperson, Courtney Parella, echoed this sentiment, telling the Post that the administration wants to prioritize “investments in the American workforce.”

The terminated programs covered a wide range of interventions, from preventing child labor in agricultural sectors to addressing human rights abuses in fisheries and electronics supply chains. In Honduras alone, a $13 million grant had already helped over 6,000 children enter educational programs and trained 500 labor inspectors. Learn more.

Dorothy’s House Update

We are excited to share that we are the first organization in Iowa to offer a complete continuum of care for Survivors of Human Trafficking!

We launched our Crisis Services Program in October, and since then, we’ve been meeting the immediate needs of numerous women. Keeping that house full almost continually. With this program, we’ve increased our capacity by 35%, and we expect that number to continue growing. We are providing these women with safety, resources, and a clear plan for their next steps. We’ve known for a long time that this support was needed, and we’re so glad we took the leap. The impact is already proving to be both measurable and meaningful.

At the Recovery House, we are witnessing stabilization and structure in our space with the addition of crisis services as the first stop for women. This ensures that those entering the recovery phase are truly ready to embrace the opportunity and work toward their goals and independent living. We have also introduced new programming, including a nutrition course through the ISU Extension, as well as a support group in partnership with Garden Gate Ranch, an organization that supports trafficking survivors with custody of young children. Collaboration is at the heart of what we do, enriching the experience for everyone involved.

In June, we welcomed our first participants into our apartment building. Front Porch serves as the transitional living phase of our program, and it’s proving to be a success. The apartments are beautiful and spacious, providing the women with the opportunity to apply the life skills they’ve learned while receiving ongoing support and guidance from staff. Here, they can navigate life’s challenges while still benefiting from the security and support offered by Dorothy’s House. At Front Porch, we also host an aftercare group for alumni and survivors in the community, where they can come together and support one another—because life continues to unfold for these women.

 TV News Clips & Articles

By on May 1, 2025   /   News