The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld a Cedar Rapids man’s conviction for enticing a 12-year-old girl to have sex with him in a Burlington hotel room. The incident happened in February of 2005 when Donovan Allen Mabie-Bahr of Cedar Rapids was 24 years old. He’d met the 12-year-old Burlington girl over the Internet. Her grandmother called authorities when she didn’t come home from school.

The girl initially denied having sex with the 24-year-old in the Burlington hotel, but later got worried she was pregnant and told authorities the two did have sex. Mabie-Bahr was convicted of enticing away a minor and third degree sex abuse. He appealed, complaining about his lawyer’s work and the instructions made to the jury before the jury reached its verdict, but the Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld his convictions.

Audio Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports. :38 MP3