Hunter
05/06/22
An Iowa City woman who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of domestic abuse assault from March was arrested on warrants stemming from her allegedly contacting a witness who has a no-contact order against her.
Court records indicate that 25-year-old Layna Engel of Southgate Avenue was charged with Class D Domestic Abuse Assault from an incident that reportedly occurred March 16th. After her initial appearance, Judge Kevin McKeever released her under the supervision of the Department of Correctional Services. A case management conference is scheduled for May 27th with jury trial on July 26th.
Police say that while under pre-trial release conditions, Engel sent a video of herself and the protected party together via Facebook Messenger to the protected party on April 19th around 1:30 am. Later that day, Engel was seen by the protected party and a witness outside the protected party’s Westwinds Drive residence. She then approached a friend of the protected party and allegedly gave him a letter to give to another friend to give to the protected party.
Portions of the seven page letter allegedly included threats to press charges against the protected party unless she dropped the assault charge against her. Engel reportedly accused the protected party of trying to kill her, but said, “if you drop the charges, I won’t do anything, I won’t say anything.”
Engel allegedly violated the terms of her pre-trial release again on the afternoon of April 21st when she and another person were seen on cameras taking multiple items from Om Gifts for Body and Soul on South Linn Street.
A warrant was issued for Engel’s arrest on April 25th; she was taken to the Johnson County Jail Wednesday morning and charged with witness tampering, 5th degree theft, and two counts of violating the no-contact order. The new charges come with a sentence of over two years if convicted on all counts. A contempt hearing is scheduled for May 19th.