Charles City man sentenced to terms of up to 25 years in prison

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Charles City man has been sentenced to two terms of up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree burglary and other charges. The sentences handed down in Floyd County District Court last week will all be served concurrently, but consecutively to time on a federal sentence being served.

Franklin Freddrick Foster, age 29, was charged in January with four counts of first-degree robbery, Class B felonies; two counts of first-degree burglary, Class B felonies; third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony; as well as several misdemeanor charges of tampering with a witness and false imprisonment.

According to criminal complaints filed by Charles City police, Foster entered an apartment in the 900 block of Gilbert Street on Jan. 4, without permission, by pulling a screen door open and breaking the latch.

“The defendant wielded a box cutter and assaulted two males causing injuries inside the apartment. Defendant also made threats to stab them,” the document says.

On Friday, Jan. 7, Foster entered an apartment in the 1300 block of Gilbert Street, displayed a handgun and ordered two occupants to lay on the ground, threatening to kill them while taking their money.

Foster is also charged with two counts of tampering with a witness, aggravated misdemeanors, for allegedly threatening to kill or harm the families of persons who Foster told to provide a false alibi for his involvement in the alleged Jan. 4 incident.

He is charged with two counts of false imprisonment, serious misdemeanors, for allegedly telling the victims in the Jan. 4 incident to not move and threatening to stab them with the box cutter-style knife, and third-degree sexual abuse for sexually assaulting a person.

A plea agreement with the Floyd County Attorney’s Office resulted in Foster pleading guilty to the two first-degree burglary charges and one charge each of false imprisonment, a serious misdemeanor, and tampering with a witness, an aggravated misdemeanor.

The four first-degree robbery charges, sexual assault and one count each of false imprisonment and tampering with a witness were dismissed as part of the agreement.

In addition to the two sentences of a term not to exceed 25 years for the burglary charges, Foster was sentenced to one year in jail on the false imprisonment charge and two years in prison on the tampering with a witness charge. Fines totaling $1,285 plus 15% surcharge were suspended.

The district court sentences are to be served consecutively with a sentence Foster is serving in federal court.

In March 2014, Foster was arrested after Charles City police tried to pull him over for driving without a license. He led several police departments, sheriff’s offices, the Iowa Highway Patrol and Iowa Department of Natural Resources officers on a high speed chase through several counties, at one point calling 911 and telling dispatch he had guns with him and he was going to start shooting if officers didn’t back off.

He was eventually stopped when tire-flattening stop sticks were deployed, and then pointed firearms at officers surrounding him before being taken into custody after an hour-long standoff.

Foster was charged with four counts of trafficking in stolen weapons, four counts of a felon in possession of firearms, possession of stolen property, felony eluding, assault on a peace officer and going armed with intent, and several other charges including traffic offenses.

In June 2014, Foster was charged in federal court with being a felon in possession of firearms, and district court charges were dismissed.

Foster pleaded guilty to that federal charge and was sentenced to 71 months (5 years, 11 months) in federal prison, plus three years of supervised release after getting out of prison.

In May 2019, after being released from prison, Foster was sent to the Waterloo Residential Correctional Facility, but in June that year he left the facility without permission. He was arrested, charged with escape and pleaded guilty.

Foster was then sentenced to six more months of federal prison time. He was released under federal supervision in March 2020.