Hunter
10/26/24
A Coralville man charged with domestic abuse assault earlier this year is accused of violating a subsequent no-contact order not dozens, not hundreds, but thousands of times.
25-year-old Artquan Kirksey of 4th Avenue was charged for domestic assault on March 20th and was issued a no-contact order. On July 30th, Kirksey participated in sworn depositions. The protected party was also present, and recanted her statements. That led to the no-contact order being rescinded September 6th.
Kirksey was arrested that same day after a traffic stop allegedly found him in possession of drugs, cash and packaging materials. Kirksey’s phone was seized and a search warrant was granted to search the data within.
Investigators found that during the time Kirksey and the alleged victim were under the no-contact order, they sent approximately 4000 messages and 236 phone calls to each other. Voice messages retrieved from Kirksey’s phone reportedly included his instructions to the victim roughly a half hour before she testified at the deposition in July. He allegedly told her to say she wanted to back out, that she needs him in their children’s lives, and that she had to leave for work.
The victim was interviewed late last month about Kirksey’s witness tampering. She admitted that he came by her residence multiple times while the no-contact order was in effect, that the original domestic assault had actually taken place, and that she was scared because Kirksey threatened to go to court to take their kids away from her.
Kirksey was arrested on a warrant on a Witness Tampering charge Thursday. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to two years in jail. A new no-contact order was issued by Judge Brandon Schrock.