The Greene County Attorney is looking back at 2023 and calling it an “unusual” year of criminal activity.

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn says 2023 was unusual because of the seriousness of some of the crimes. One of those cases was attempted murder by Adam Coy, who was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to 36 years in prison. Laehn points out two other “priority cases” for his office included Benjamin and Shana Ellingson. He says Benjamin was sentenced to 55 years in prison on several charges, including sexual exploitation of a minor and third degree sexual abuse. Shana was sentenced to 17 years in prison for third degree sexual abuse and child endangerment. 

Laehn goes on to say that his office didn’t lose a case all year and he attributes most of the success to the investigative prowess of the Jefferson Police Department and Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

“We have first rate law enforcement officers here in Greene County who did amazing work investigating these criminal offenses and then it makes our job in the courtroom that much easier.”

As far as 2023 overall, Laehn believes there are other reasons, which are from the aftermath of the covid pandemic. He points out that while schools were closed, kids spent more time at home, but one particular crime kept happening.

“When DHS, the Iowa Department of Human Services wasn’t making home visits and children were more isolated a lot of sexual abuse occurred. And those crimes are just now coming to light. It’s a statewide phenomenon, probably nationwide, but certainly here in Iowa there are crimes that went undetected during the pandemic that we’re just now learning about.” 

Laehn notes other reasons from the pandemic that people committed more substance abuse and theft was due to the absence of spending for people from the federal government, causing financial hardships.