(KIWA Staff Photo)
Rock Rapids, Iowa — A Minnesota man has been sentenced on felony charges after an undercover online investigation by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.
The Lyon County Attorney’s Office says 30-year-old Joshua Robert Meuleners of Cologne, Minnesota, was accused of sending sexually explicit messages and images to an account he thought was owned by a 15-year-old girl. Instead, it was an officer posing as a 15-year-old girl. The statement says the messages and images were sent with the intent to solicit or lure the girl to commit sex acts.
Mueleners pleaded guilty to one count of enticing a minor and one count of grooming, both class D felonies. In the plea agreement, he agreed to be sentenced to a suspended sentence not to exceed five years in prison, fines, fees, and surcharges. He also pleaded guilty as part of the agreement to five counts of phone dissemination of obscene material to minors and was sentenced to 365 days in the Lyon County Jail, with all but 24 days suspended.
