Violent and Serious Crime Rates in Linn County Decrease in 2024

Linn County prosecutors continue to see a decline in the most serious charges but overall caseloads remain high.

The Linn County Attorney's Office is releasing statistics on cases of violent and serious crimes filed by their office in 2024, along with statistics from 2023 and 2022. Violent and serious crimes include homicide and attempted homicide, firearm-related offenses, sexual abuse, robbery, burglary, and eluding police - a serious driving offense.

The statistics show a decrease in all categories of these serious and violent crimes in 2024, with the exception of cases of sexual abuse. Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks attributes the increase in sex abuse cases to an investigative operation focused on individuals soliciting children conducted by the Cedar Rapids Police Department that resulted in 18 cases. These 18 cases were in addition to cases involving victims who reported sexual abuse that resulted in charges filed.

In addition to seeing a decrease in violent and serious crimes in 2024, the Linn County Attorney's Office obtained guilty verdicts and guilty pleas in 10 high-profile homicide cases.

"The year 2024 was a successful year for our prosecutors in the courtroom. It was also a year where we saw crime rates drop for the most serious offenses in Linn County, so it was a good year for our community," said Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks. "The low crime numbers recently reported by the Cedar Rapids Police Department carried over into our office as well. Law enforcement numbers are based on crimes reported, whereas our numbers are based on crimes where the investigations result in criminal charges."

The Linn County Attorney's Office prosecutes cases referred by Marion, Hiawatha, Mount Vernon, and the Linn County Sheriff's Office in addition to cases from the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

The following table shows the crime statistics for the past three years. Firearm-related crimes were down in all of the offenses included in each category.

Serious Crime & Eluding

	2022	2023	2024	Percent Decrease in 2024 Using Two-year Average
Homicides & Attempted Homicides	32	26	12	60%
Firearms	229	237	204	14%
Sex Abuse	52	47	55*	25%**
Robbery	30	20	15	40%
Burglary	31	28	24	23%
Eluding	104	113	89	22%

*CRPD investigative operation
**Not including the CRPD operation.

Definition of Crime Categories in This Report

Homicide & Attempted Homicide crimes include the number of charges of murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, vehicular homicide and attempted murder. Since these numbers were reported as charges, not cases, some of the charges may have been filed in one case.

Firearms crimes include Possession of Firearm as a Felon or Domestic Abuser, Going Armed with Intent, Intimidation with a Dangerous Weapon, Persons Ineligible to Carry and Trafficking Stolen Weapons. These numbers were reported as charges, not cases, because they typically involve separate acts involving a firearm. Since these numbers were reported as charges, not cases, some of the charges may have been filed in one case.

Sex Abuse crimes include any case where at least one charge was filed under Chapter 709 of the Iowa Code, which is the chapter of the Iowa Code that covers most sex offenses. For each case, there may be multiple counts or charges involving the same victim.

Robbery crimes include all cases of Robbery in the First Degree and Robbery in the Second Degree.

Burglary crimes include all cases of Burglary in the First Degree, Burglary in the Second Degree, Attempted Burglary in the First Degree, and Attempted Burglary in the Second Degree. Most, if not all, of the burglary offenses in this report involve burglaries where victims were personally present.

Note: There is a category of Burglary in the Third Degree. That category is not included in this report because it involves structures and vehicles where people (victims) are not present. The purpose of this report is to focus on more serious burglary crimes, ones that occur when people are present.

Eluding results when an offender fails to stop for a law enforcement vehicle with lights and sirens activated. Eluding often reaches dangerous speeds. Prosecution of eluding offenses has been a priority for the County Attorney's Office, along with the prosecution of violent offenses. The Linn County Attorney's Office has led efforts across the state to strengthen penalties for eluding offenders. This work helped result in new laws signed by Governor Reynolds in 2020 (SF2275) that increased penalties for repeat offenders and in 2023 (HF 358) that makes any eluding offense where the offender exceeds the speed limit by 25 mph or more a felony.

Overall crime numbers reflect the decrease in violent and serious crimes and felonies, however, indictable misdemeanor filings rose slightly in 2024. Indictable misdemeanor filings were up about 6% from the two-year average while felonies were down about 8.5%.

"The drop in the most serious crimes is noteworthy compared to past years," said Maybanks. "Our overall statistics are a result of the decrease in violent and serious crime, a dip in felony drug prosecutions, and an increase in lower-level property and financial crime prosecution."

Overall Numbers

	2022	2023	2024
Felonies	974	969	890
Indictable Misdemeanors	2,849	2,824	3,002

The Linn County Attorney's Office has not been able to add a prosecutor to the staff due to budget constraints since 2020, and caseloads per prosecutor are above the national average. In 2023, the average caseload per year for each Linn County felony attorney was 185. That number dipped to 170 in 2024. The American Bar Association recommends a caseload of 150/year for felony attorneys.

According to Maybanks the statistics show a community that has grown safer and more secure over the past three years.

"Linn County has always been a safe place to live, work, raise a family and to call home," Maybanks maintained. "Credit goes to the resilience of the residents of this community and to the leaders of government and industry who make this community the best place to live in the state of Iowa.

"We should also acknowledge the dedication of our local law enforcement departments and the hard-working prosecutors in our office who are committed to public safety, justice and victims," said Maybanks, who led the prosecution of four of the ten homicides that resulted in convictions this year. "We believe our record of convictions and just results speaks for itself. The teamwork between law enforcement and our prosecutors deserves the highest commendation."

2024 Successful Homicide Prosecutions

Between January 23, 2024, through November 14, 2024, the Linn County Attorney's Office successfully prosecuted the following 10 homicides:

• Kazius Childress: pled guilty to Murder in the Second Degree on January 23, 2024, and sentenced on April 19, 2024, for the death of Cordal Lewis, age 19; prosecuted by Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks and Assistant Linn County Attorney Jennifer Erger.
• Brannon Johnson: found guilty by a jury of Murder in the Second Degree on March 6, 2024, for the death of Jorge Maldonado-Vasquez, age 27; prosecuted by First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter and Assistant Linn County Attorney Alex Anderson.
• Duvall Walker: found guilty by a jury of Murder in the First Degree on March 13, 2024, for the death of Cameron Barnes, age 33; prosecuted by Assistant Linn County Attorneys Andrew Powers and Heidi Weiland.
• George Deason: found guilty by a judge of Murder in the Second Degree on March 15, 2024, for the death of Elsie Deason, age 71; prosecuted by Assistant Linn County Attorney Andrew Powers and Katherine Shimkat.
• Kyl Kubite: pled guilty to Vehicular Homicide and sentenced on March 18, 2024, for the death of Bonnie Stover, age 59; prosecuted by First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter.
• Keyun McGowan: found guilty by a jury of Murder in the First Degree on March 25, 2024, for the death of Cristian Upah, age 17; prosecuted by Criminal Division Head Jordan Schier and Assistant Linn County Attorney Alex Anderson.
• Shane Teslik: found guilty by a jury of Voluntary Manslaughter on April 8, 2024, for the death of Devonna Walker, age 29; prosecuted by Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks and First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter.
• Curtis Padgett: found guilty by a judge of Murder in the First Degree on May 6, 2024, for the death of Dennis First, age 64; prosecuted by Assistant Linn County Attorneys Molly Edwards and Jennifer Erger.
• Kazius Childress: pled guilty to Murder in the Second Degree on August 27, 2024, and sentenced on October 25, 2024, for the death of Kavon Johnson, age 22; prosecuted by Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks and Assistant Linn County Attorney Jennifer Erger.
• McKinley Louisma: found guilty by a jury of Murder in the First Degree, Kidnapping in the First Degree and Conspiracy to Commit a Forcible Felony, for the death of Melody Hoffman, age 20; prosecuted by Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks and First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter

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