Primghar, Iowa — A Hospers man faces a ten-year prison sentence and an indeterminate 2-year sentence after his sentencing on sex abuse charges.
According to Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle, 68-year-old James “Jim” Stephan Hanno of Hospers has been sentenced in O’Brien County District Court for the crime of Indecent Contact with a Child. Sioux County Attorney Kunstle prosecuted the case on behalf of the State of Iowa, in connection to charges occurring in Sioux County, but coordinating with the O’Brien County Attorney’s Office.
Kunstle’s office tells us that the criminal investigation began in January of 2022 after the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office was notified by Minnesota authorities that Hanno had been identified as a suspect in a sexual abuse investigation in Cottonwood County, Minnesota and O’Brien and Sioux counties in Iowa, involving two minor victims.
On Monday, March 20, 2023, the O’Brien District Court accepted Hanno’s no-contest plea to Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree stemming from O’Brien County, and a guilty plea to Indecent Contact with a Child stemming from Sioux County. The Court sentenced Hanno to an indeterminate 10-year prison sentence for Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree and an indeterminate 2-year prison sentence for Indecent Contact with a Child. The Court further ordered Hanno to register as a sex offender for life, and to a special lifetime parole sentence after release.
