SIOUX COUNTY – A man who lived in Iowa and raped a woman then fled to Mexico to evade justice was eventually taken into custody, tried and convicted by a jury here for his crime.
Thomas Kunstle, Sioux County Attorney, announced that 29-year-old Misael Topete Topete (pictured at top) formerly of Hawarden, Iowa, was convicted on July 25, 2024, in Sioux County District Court for the crime of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree, by sexually assaulting a female by force or against her will. Assistant County Attorney Lori Ehlers and Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle prosecuted the case on behalf of Iowa.
This case arose in the early morning hours on July 9, 2017, when Misael Topete entered the basement of his mother’s home in Hawarden encountering the 19 year-old female victim, who was going inside the home to sleep. Topete forced the victim down on the basement steps, then pulled down the victim’s clothing, and sexually assaulted her. The victim reported she resisted and said stop, but Topete did not stop. Further investigation revealed that Topete confessed to police that the victim told him to stop but that he did not stop.
One day before the original trial, on March 5, 2018, Topete fled to Mexico becoming a fugitive from justice. On Feb. 18, 2024, Topete turned himself in to authorities. Because Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree is a forcible felony, upon conviction Topete was taken into custody and will remain in the Sioux County Jail pending the scheduling of his sentencing hearing.