The Iowa Supreme Court has agreed with a Des Moines man, who was caught in an underage sex sting, that there was not enough evidence to convict him of enticing a minor. Eric Richard Hansen was arrested at a Wal-Mart in Cedar Falls in May 2006 after he set up a meeting with a girl he believed was 15-years-old.
The girl was actually a Cedar Falls police officer who was in an Internet chat room using an assumed name. Hansen claimed to be 19 when he arranged to meet the girl. Authorities arrested Hansen, who was actually 23 at the time, as he returned to his car after he tried to call the girl from a pay phone but got no answer. He was charged and later found guilty of enticing a minor.
The Iowa Court of Appeals, however, agreed with Hansen’s argument that he did not successfully entice a minor and ruled the verdict should have been guilty of attempted enticement. The high court, in today’s ruling, agreed that the case should be sent back to district court.