Iowa City man wanted on pre-trial release violations arrested

Hunter
04/20/22

An Iowa City man who allegedly violated his pre-trial release conditions has been taken into custody.

The Iowa Department of Corrections issued a warrant for 20-year-old Luke Beckner of Wylde Green Road after numerous violations, including failure to report for his scheduled appointments between July 8^th 2021 and February 15^th of this year, and being arrested for OWI 2^nd offense on February 24^th. On the 24^th, the warrant was issued, and he was taken into custody Tuesday morning.

Beckner has two trials pending.

He faces up to 35 years in prison after allegedly having sex with a 14-year old and giving marijuana to two other teenagers. Police say he met a girl through Snapchat, and between December 22^nd 2020 and January 18, 2021, drove her to his home to have sex on several occasions. Authorities say their investigation corroborated the girl’s account of their interactions.

He reportedly took the other two teens, who he also met on Snapchat, to his home between December 22-23 2020 and gave them marijuana.

Beckner is scheduled for a case management conference this Friday ahead of a May 17^th trial date.

The other trial combines two incidents. One goes back to St. Patrick’s Day 2020, when Beckner was identified as one of a group of suspects who allegedly broke into a Woodland Heights Northeast residence and took nearly $14,000 in gaming merchandise, computer equipment, jewelry, cash and a TV. Beckner reportedly used some of the items personally, and sold or traded others.

The other incident involves the spray-painting of the Old Capitol building on August 28^th 2020 during a Black Lives Matter protest. He and another suspect were identified by officers on scene and through video footage. They reportedly caused $1500 in damage, after the University spent about a million dollars to remove damage done that June.

Court records indicate a case management conference is scheduled for May 27^th with jury trial set for June 28^th. Beckner faces up to fifteen years on the break-in incident, and five for the Old Capitol incident.