DES MOINES – A woman formerly of Charles City has been found guilty of felony second degree sexual abuse involving a child and has been sent to prison.
Jill Tjernagel, age 56 with a last address of Jewell, Iowa, was arrested by Hamilton County deputies on June 4, 2014 after a warrant was issued by a judge in that county. She was held on $25,000 cash bond. A written arraignment was filed in court on June 11th, and she pled not guilty. An August 19th trial was set.
The charge of second degree sexual abuse stems from an alleged act on or between about August 2008 and February 20, 2013, in Hamilton County, Iowa. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office says that Tjernagel committed a sex act upon a child under the age of 12 in violation of Iowa codes 709.1(3) and 709.3(2).
Tjernagel claims to be from Charles City originally and lived in Jewel, Iowa in Hamilton county where she claimed to work as a Mortgage Loan Officer at Ames Community Bank.
After a long series of motions and other court proceedings, a jury finally returned a guilty verdict on April 3, 2015. Tjernagel claimed prosecutorial misconduct and attempted to get a new trial, but was refused. A number of victim impact statements were submitted to the court before sentencing was handed down.
Tjernagel was sentenced to 25 years in prison on September 8, 2015 and was shipped to the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville, Iowa on September 10 by the Hamilton county sheriff’s office. She must also pay $25,972.75 in fines, court fees and other costs. Additionally, she must register as a sex offender.
You want a story Matt: Check out the meth heads, dysfunctional family that filed this case. Check out their court records! Figure it out: $$$$$$$$$$$$
Learn to read the records: Matt. That money was posted for bond and it will be there when she gets out, A NEW Trial A New Day!!
Hurrah for the system that will free this woman! When the state Attorney Generals office (Susan Krisco) is suppose to protect its citizens and instead of presenting the facts uses underhanded tactics, and not the facts: just to win a case-we the citizens are all in trouble! And we the citizens in the Great State of Iowa all pay for it.
God is great! He has answered our prayers! So happy to hear the wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted will be free! Where’s the story about that Matt? Better copy and paste more from Iowa Courts online.
Records show she is still incarcerated and has paid $25,924.07 of $25,972.75 she owed to Iowa courts in the case. Does an innocent person pay fines and remain in jail? If you know of a development in this case, let me know about it and I’ll be happy to report it.
Yes it is wonderful that this innocent woman will be released and set free, justice is finally being served for this wrongly accused woman.
So happy to hear that this innocent women is being set free!! Justice has finally come for this wrongly accused woman!!
No victim impact statements were made.
More research needs to be done before articles are written.
Very poor reporting.
You better check the court records, lady:
Filings
Title: STATE OF IOWA VS. JILL TJERNAGEL
Case: 02401 FECR338214 (HAMILTON)
Citation Number:
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT KRISKO SUSAN RENEE’ 07/07/2015 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT KRISKO SUSAN RENEE’ 07/07/2015 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT KRISKO SUSAN RENEE’ 07/07/2015 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT KRISKO SUSAN RENEE’ 07/07/2015 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT KRISKO SUSAN RENEE’ 07/07/2015 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT KRISKO SUSAN RENEE’ 07/07/2015 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT KRISKO SUSAN RENEE’ 07/07/2015 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT KRISKO SUSAN RENEE’ 07/07/2015 07/07/2015 07/07/2015
(Assistant Iowa Attorney General Susan Krisko)
I was in the courtroom. The “victim’s” waived their right to speak.
Sir.
Are you calling the child victim in this case a liar? The record shows that the victim impact statements were introduced to the court. Either way, a jury found this woman guilty of sexually abusing a child (JURY VERDICT: GUILTY). Seems to have been plenty of shenanigans after that guilty verdict (pleas for a new trial, prosecutorial misconduct allegations, etc etc) but none of it stuck. Sad that when a person is caught and convicted, they can continue to batter and abuse the system. I hope this woman enjoys her long stay in prison and you enjoy your visits to see her.
This is the first time seeing this and thank you NIT for your reliable reporting and acknowledging the battering and abusing of the system. I too was in the court room and there was multiple victim impact statements filed. Here we are years later and this family is still battering and abusing not just the system but also the victims and their families.