Former Iowa officer wanted for threatening to kill wife, in-laws is charged with several counts of sex abuse

Tyler J. Davis | The Des Moines Register

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A former central Iowa officer who fled the state after allegedly threatening the lives of several family members has been charged with sexual abuse, court records show.

Jonathan Wayne Bailey, 35, has been charged with eight counts of child endangerment, seven counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of sexual exploitation. Bailey, a former Polk County Jail detention officer, also reportedly worked as an Eagle Grove police officer.

Grinnell police were looking for Bailey after he threatened to kill his wife and her parents about the same time the investigation into possible sexual abuse began. He escaped to Georgia, where he was arrested last week.

Several criminal complaints filed by Grinnell police allege Bailey abused two boys for years.

The children were interviewed last month at the Child Protection Center in Hiawatha, police say, and told investigators that Bailey sexually assaulted them.

A preliminary hearing for his child- and sex-related charges is scheduled for Dec. 12. Bailey is barred from contacting the two victims as well as another child, according to court records. That no-contact order extends to his wife and two other adults, court records show.

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A judge implemented a previous no-contact order Oct. 25 prohibiting Bailey from communicating with his wife after she requested protection from domestic abuse, court records show. He violated that order Nov. 10 — three days after police began investigating the sexual abuse claims — by telling her he was going to kill himself.

Nov. 15, he again contacted this wife, this time threatening to harm others. A warrant for Bailey's arrest was issued Nov. 16 on charges of stalking, harassment and violating a no-contact order.

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The sexual abuse charges are each punishable by up to 25 years in prison following a conviction.

Bailey left Iowa after a warrant was issued for the stalking and harassment charges, but he was captured during a traffic stop in Douglas County, Georgia on Nov. 21. He is being held on $1 million bond at the Poweshiek County Jail and is due back in court Dec. 12.

Bailey was a detention officer at the Polk County Jail from January 2008 until his resignation in August 2011, a spokesman with the county sheriff's office has said. Eagle Grove Police Department would not confirm when or if Bailey worked there.

Follow the Register on Facebook and Twitter for more news. Tyler Davis can be contacted at tjdavis@dmreg.com or on Twitter @TDavisDMR.

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