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(Polk County, IA) -- A Des Moines man has been sentenced to 55-years in prison for sexually abusing minors. Thirty-six-year-old Matthew Akeem Butts entered an Alford guilty plea, acknowledging evidence against him. Investigators say Butts was accused of meeting minors in both Polk and Story counties on SnapChat. A Polk County judge sentenced him to 10-years in prison. That sentence is to run consecutively to a Story County sentence of 45-years.
Butts was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in late 2022 and early 2023 after meeting her on SnapChat. He was also accused of taking video of her and threatening to share the images if she did not continue to meet with him.
On Aug. 12, Butts was sentenced in Story County to 45 years in prison for two counts of third-degree sexual abuse and distributing drugs to a minor. The sentence includes a mandatory-minimum sentence of five years in prison. In that case, Butts was accused of meeting a 13-year-old girl from Roland on SnapChat in December 2022.
The Polk County case was prosecuted by Assistant County Attorney Meggan Guns and assisted by Kayla McKee. West Des Moines Police Officer James Paup led the investigation.
The Story County case was prosecuted by Assistant County Attorney Tiffany Meredith and investigated by Detective Anthony Rhoad and the Story County Sheriff’s Office.