Pieper Lewis. Source: Bill Oxford / Getty
The Iowa teen that escaped from custody has been detained. Pieper Lewis, 18, was found in Des Moines, Iowa and taken back to the Polk County Jail, CNN reported. Lewis pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury in 2020 after killing a man named Zachary Brooks, 37, who she accused of raping her multiple times. She was 15-years-old at the time. Lewis was also ordered to pay the family $150,000 in restitution.
Jerry Evans, the district’s executive director, said that Lewis “walked away from the Fresh Start Women’s Center on Friday at 6:19 a.m. after cutting off her electronic monitoring tracking device.” Lewis is now charged with escape.
Lewis was serving her probation at the Fresh Start Women’s Center. When she escaped, a probation officer and residential supervisor signed a report asking that her probation be revoked and original sentence of 20 years in prison be imposed. Lewis faced 20 years in prison but Judge David Porter gave a deferred judgement meaning if she served her probationary sentence of five years, her plea would be expunged from her record.
Lewis was also ordered to serve 200 hours of community service and pay over $4,000 in civil penalties.
Pieper Lewis Is A Sex Trafficking Survivor
Pieper Lewis ran away from home when she was 15. She then moved in with a man who later began sex trafficking her. In her plea agreement, she said that in May 2020, the man introduced her to Brooks. She said Brooks gave her vodka and marijuana and then raped her while she was unconscious over a three-day period.
Days after, the man pulled a knife on her and forced her to go back to Brooks’ apartment. Lewis refused at first but once he cut her neck, she agreed to go. She claimed she was forced to drink vodka and she fell asleep. Lewis claimed she woke up to Brooks on top of her. She said that when she realized that she had been assaulted, she became “overcome with rage” and “immediately grabbed the knife from his nightstand and began stabbing him.”
Lewis will have court at a later date for her escape charge and probation violation.
