Mason City man pleads guilty to two Floyd County child sex crimes; sentencing set

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Mason City man who was charged with four counts of sex crimes with young girls in Floyd County has pleaded guilty to some of the charges, had his guilty plea accepted and is set for sentencing this summer.

Aaron Michael Wells, age 24, was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, both Class B felonies; and two counts of lascivious acts with a child, both Class C felonies.

According to documents filed in Floyd County District Court, the incidents allegedly took place in Marble Rock when Wells was age 15 to 17.

Wells was scheduled to begin trial last month, but Wells informed the court he intended to change his plea to guilty.

Wells filed a written plea of guilty on Monday to the two Class C felony counts of lascivious acts with a child, admitting that the offenses occurred in 2012 to 2013 when he was 16 or 17 years old.

District Court Judge Gregg Rosenbladt accepted the plea and set sentencing for June 21.

As part of the plea agreement, the Floyd County Attorney’s Office will ask the court to dismiss the two sexual abuse Class B felony charges, and will recommend that Wells be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison on each of the lascivious acts charges, pay a $1,000 fine plus 15% surcharge, register for life on the Iowa Sexual Offender Registry, be subject to Iowa’s special sentence for sexual crimes that puts him under the supervision of the Iowa Department of Corrections for life, and other fees and surcharges.

The plea agreement says that Wells will not ask for a deferred judgment but will be allowed to ask the judge for probation instead of prison, although the County Attorney’s Office will not make that recommendation.