Floyd man forced to take psych meds

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Floyd man who was judged mentally incompetent to stand trial on charges of sexual abuse is being forced to take medication to treat his condition.

Charles Earl Thompson, age 64, had been scheduled to begin trial in January on felony charges of sexual abuse in the second degree, a Class B felony, and lascivious acts with a child, a Class C felony, allegedly committed with a girl age 8-9 in 2018-2019, as well as other misdemeanor sexually-related charges.

But after Thompson’s attorney asked the court to have his client evaluated by a psychiatrist, District Court Judge Colleen Weiland ruled that Thompson was not competent to act in his own defense.

“The psychiatrist concluded that the defendant is not competent to stand trial and should be considered a candidate for restoration treatment,” Weiland said in February, referring to a report by the staff psychiatrist at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, who had evaluated Thompson.

In March, District Court Judge DeDra Schroeder reviewed a report filed by the treating psychiatrist, who wrote that Thompson “is refusing medications, and his refusal is interfering with the restoration process.”

The psychiatrist requested permission to treat Thompson “even involuntarily.”

On March 24, Schroeder ordered that Thompson “be treated in a manner to restore the defendant to competency with recommended medications to facilitate the restoration process.”

The court originally ordered Thompson’s psychiatrist to submit a report within 30 days of his placement, then at least every 60 days or immediately if his competency is restored.

In addition to the two felony charges, Thompson was charged with two counts of indecent contact with a child, aggravated misdemeanors, alleged to also have occurred with a girl age 8-9 in 2018-19, and a charge of dissemination and exhibition of obscene materials to a minor, a serious misdemeanor, also involving a girl age 8-9 during 2018-2019.

A sixth count involves a girl age 15, who Thompson is alleged to have assaulted with the intent to commit sexual abuse in the summer of 2018, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Thompson was charged in October 2019 after a 9-year-old girl, interviewed at the Child Protection Center in Waterloo, alleged that Thompson touched her sexually at Thompson’s residence in Floyd.