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Des Moines Sex Trafficker Gets 15-Year Prison Sentence

A West Des Moines man will spend 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking. Leon Phillips,34, was charged previously with sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; facilitating prostitution; and distributing marijuana.

On Wednesday, July 1, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher sentenced Phillips to the mandatory minimum of 180 months.

According to court filings, Phillips was charged after the parents of a 21-year-old woman reported her missing andsaid they believed she was being trafficked for sex. Police eventually located Phillips and found videos on his phone showing him assaulting the woman and online escort ads for her that he had posted.

In court Wednesday, July 21st, prosecutor Amy Jennings said Phillips has a long criminal history, including assaulting and threatening multiple romantic partners. Jennings said the woman in the case sustained extensive bruising, broken ribs and multiple skull and facial fractures in various episodes of violence. At another point, she saidPhillips had held a gun to the woman’s head and threatened to kill her.

Court gives minimum sentence after sealed hearing

Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a range of 19 1/2 to 24 1/2 years for Phillips, and Locher said that based on his conduct and history, his sentence would normally be “top of the guidelines if not above.”

“Over and over again, your criminal history shows you getting into relationships and then showing violence toward women,” Locher said.

Instead, after closing the courtroom to discuss an unknown motion under seal, Locher said he was following the “recommendation of the parties” and sentencing Phillips to the mandatory minimum of 15 years. He also ordered Phillips to pay more than $33,000 in restitution to the victim.

Iowa Anti-trafficking Agencies Celebrate World Day Against Trafficking

In observance of World Day Against Human Trafficking in Persons July 30, many anti-trafficking advocates and organizations held events and celebrations. Here are just a few of these celebration events:

  • The Lighthouse Foundation, based in Pella, held a community-wide celebration involving a 5K Fight For Freedom run/walk, released 1,000 balloons, and held a family-friendly picnic and concert.
  • Chains Interrupted, based in Cedar Rapids, undertook Red Sand Projects in Cedar Rapids and in several other communities.
  • Lyna Debner and the North/Central Iowa Coalition Against Human Trafficking, based in Fort Dodge, also held a successful Red Sand Project.
  • Bernadette Rixner and the Siouxland Coalition Against Trafficking also did the Red Sand Project; however, it unfortunately rained that day.
  • Maggie Tinsman and Elle Sweborg, representing Braking Traffick based in the Quad Cities, had extensivemedia coverage of their Red Sand Project, which was carried by two TV stations, and you can view interviews at the following link: Red Sand Project raises awareness of human trafficking.
  • Tom Barr and the Network Against Human Trafficking set up an information/education tent at the Muscatine County Fair. Tom staffed the information tent for five consecutive days. This fair attracted 25,000 visitorsand an interview with the advocate newspaper out of Wilton, Iowa.

Below are photos and posters generated by these and other groups observing World Day Against Human Trafficking and Slavery in Persons.

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Disgraced Anti-Sex-Trafficking Nonprofit Gets $244 Million to Rep Migrant Kids

Our Rescue, an anti-sex-trafficking nonprofit based in Utah, whose founder resigned after multiple women accused him of trafficking and sexual abuse, has won a federal contract to provide legal services to unaccompanied refugeeimmigrant children in US government custody.

The Trump administration gave Our Rescue a no-bid $244,034,658 contract on August 7, according to the federal award notice posted in late August. The federal grant gives the organization seven times the amount of money it hadin 2025, according to its most recently available Form 990, which put total assets at $36.9 million.

It’s unclear how many children Our Rescue will represent. The notice says only that it will provide legal services to children in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), established to offer support for victims of human trafficking and those seeking asylum in the United States. Nearly 1,800 children were in the agency’s care in June;over the last year, it has averaged about 1,908 children monthly.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 requires that the federal government “shall ensure, to the greatest extent practicable,” that all unaccompanied minors receive legal “counsel to represent them in legal proceedings” and that it will “protect them from mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking.” Our Rescue and a smallTexas law firm founded by a former Trump appointee are taking up that work after the Trump administration failed topay and then canceled the contract of the legal aid groups previously providing the services.

Our Rescue, formerly known as Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R), conducts international sting operations tocatch sex traffickers, similar to Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator.” The organization gained national notoriety in 2023,when the film Sound of Freedom dramatized the life of founder and CEO Tim Ballard, portraying him as a Homeland Security Investigations agent sent to rescue child sex trafficking victims in Colombia.

To read the rest of the article, tap here.

Is Social Media’s Big Tobacco Moment Finally Here?

Last week, a judge in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a fund for teen mental health prevention and treatment. This amount is in addition to the $372 million they were ordered to pay earlier this year after a jury found they were liable for enabling sexual exploitation and misleading users, bringing the total amount to almost $1 billion.

Meta was declared a “public nuisance” by a New Mexico judge, likened to air pollution.

There are currently thousands of lawsuits against social media companies for harming users pending across the country, mostly concentrated in California. And Big Tech’s efforts to appeal or delay these cases have so far been rejected. Just days after the New Mexico ruling, Meta and TikTok’s attempt to dodge thousands of cases was denied by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California.

All of this begs the question: Have social media companies finally reached their day of reckoning?

Free Protect Our Kids Conference on October 10

Kim Smith, an Iowa educator with the Protect Me Project and Shared Hope International, has organized a free training on Saturday, October 10. The focus is on anti-trafficking of Iowa children and youth, along with online dangers. You may register here on Eventbrite. If you or your anti-trafficking organization would like to set up aninformation booth, please contact Kim at training.protectmeproject@gmail.com.

New Trafficking Documentary Available on Prime Video and Others

A new documentary called A Way Out has gone live on Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube. It follows Safe HouseProject, an organization rebuilding how the US identifies trafficking survivors and connects them to services, and shows exactly where that system still breaks down. Watch the clip for a preview and then stream the full film on one of the platforms.

Lawmakers Announce Caucus to Fight Human Trafficking

Pennsylvania State lawmakers have launched a bipartisan caucus focused on combating human trafficking. Thegoal is to facilitate passing legislation to address the issue, according to a statement issued following a news conference to promote the eight-person panel.

The commonwealth also flunked an analysis of its human trafficking related laws and policies by advocacy organization Shared Hope International. Iowa has also flunked the same Shared Hope International analysis of human trafficking laws. Iowa has been given an F-grade in this year’s annual report.

“Our intent is to start working together for an ‘A’ rating in dealing with these issues,” said Senate Chair Cris Dush. The lawmaker highlighted a handful of proposals with bipartisan support endorsed by the panel.

For more details, tap here.

Human Trafficking Law Enforcement Training October 5-6

The NAHT wanted to share the flyer for the upcoming Human Trafficking Training Center session in West Des Moines October 5–6. This year’s training is limited to active law enforcement, prosecutors, nurses, CPS, HT advocates, probation, and parole, and there is no evening event planned.

Please share with anyone in those listed fields who may benefit from attending. This is the fourth year for this intense training program hosted by a collaboration of ten central Iowa Rotary clubs. These Rotary Clubs have been recognized for their exceptional support for fighting to end human trafficking. The NAHT and Iowa governor presented this Rotary collaboration called CIVITAS with an outstanding anti-trafficking service award.

TV News Clips & Articles

By on September 1, 2026   /   News