Lang
12/15/24
An Iowa City sex offender who absconded from custody is back behind bars.
According to court documents, 36-year-old Richard Downing signed out of Hope House in Coralville on an employment pass at about 6:50 last Tuesday morning with a listed return time of 5:30 p.m. At about 10:30 that morning, Downing’s supervisor called the Holiday Road facility to ask why he never reported to work. Downing did not return to Hope House at the time listed on his sign-out sheet.
Downing was booked into the Johnson County Jail just before 12:45 Thursday afternoon and charged with Escape From Custody. If convicted he faces a maximum of one year in jail.
Downing was sentenced to Hope House last May as part of a plea deal on a charge of Enticing a Minor for Sexual Purposes. The former resident of the Town & Campus Apartments on Arthur Street was accused of communicating on multiple occasions in late 2023 with a subject he believed to be under the age of 16. Among the allegations against Downing were that he asked the subject about previous sex acts, offered to meet the other person to “cuddle”, and offered to perform oral sex on the person. Police say Downing also offered to wear a condom in case the two wanted to have sex.
Downing was arrested by police after he reportedly arranged to meet the other person at a predetermined location. He reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and was given a five-year suspended sentence, placed on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, and ordered to live at Hope House for one year.