SAC CITY — A 43-year-old man who used social media, code words and disappearing messages to groom a juvenile girl has been sentenced to up to five years in prison after a friend raised concerns and a detective preserved the evidence.
Joshua Wayne Phillips (pictured at top) was convicted September 28, 2026, in Sac County District Court of grooming, a Class D felony, according to an October 15 announcement from Sac County Attorney Ben Smith’s office.
District Court Judge Derek Johnson imposed an indeterminate prison term of up to five years. Phillips was ordered to report to the Sac County Sheriff’s Office on October 2 to begin serving the sentence.
Friend’s warning helped expose months of messages
Over several months in early 2026, Phillips used Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and text messages to build a romantic relationship with the juvenile girl and entice her to engage in sexual conduct with him, prosecutors said.
Phillips used code words to evade content monitoring and moved the conversations to an app with disappearing messages, according to the county attorney’s office.
The case came to authorities’ attention after a friend of the girl reported concerns to school officials.
A Sac City Police Department detective preserved the messages before they could be deleted. The department investigated the case, which was prosecuted by the Sac County Attorney’s Office.
The release did not identify the girl or disclose her age.
Prison sentence followed by 10 years of supervision
In addition to the prison term, Phillips will serve a 10-year special sentence following his release, under Iowa Department of Corrections supervision as if on parole.
He must also register on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry.
The sentence is for up to five years in prison; the announcement does not establish how much time Phillips will ultimately serve before release.
NIT has also covered separate online cases in the region, including two men sentenced after a Northern Iowa undercover deputy posed as a child online.