MASON CITY – A convicted sex offender from Manly arrested earlier for an assault in Mason City may have violated a no-contact order 24 times.
Mason City police officers were called to 252 9th Street SE on the evening of July 31, 2016, for a report of an assault. Officers arrived on the scene and after an investigation arrested 27-year-old Timothy Steven Benjegerdes of Manly on a charge of aggravated assault.
Benjegerdes was taken to the Cerro Gordo county jail, where he has remained held on $2,000 bond. Later in August, he entered a not-guilty plea. A no-contact order with the alleged vicim was imposed on Benjegerdes by a judge.
However, court records show that Mason City police have accused Benjegerdes of violating that no-contact order 24 times. He is now facing a contempt hearing set for October 6. He could face 7 days in jail if guilty, on each count.
As a result of this arrest, Benjegerdes faces a parole violation and on that charge is being held on no bond as he awaits a hearing.
Benjegerdes was sent to prison in 2009 after he faced several charges in connection to sex acts he committed at age 18 with a 13-year-old girl. A jury found him guilty of sexual abuse in the third degree and he was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay over $11,000 in court costs. He is currently serving lifetime supervision on the state’s sex offender registry.
In connection to that case, Benjegerdes filed an appeal. On September 14, the Iowa Court of Appeals said that the basis of Benjegerdes’ appeal was the denial of his application for post conviction relief. He asserted the district court erred in determining his counsel was not ineffective for failing to investigate certain facts, litigate his motion to suppress, and impeach the victim’s credibility.
Benjegerdes also argued in his appeal that his trial counsel failed to effectively investigate and develop impeachment evidence against the investigating officer. He claims his counsel should have attacked the officer’s credibility based on the officer’s alleged: (1) relationship with the family of the victim, (2) failure to follow protocol during the investigation, (3) tampering with phone-record evidence, and (4) overall dishonesty.
The court found Benjegerdes’s complaints “unpersuasive” and upheld his conviction.
