DES MOINES, IA — Iowa’s State General Assembly is considering adding a new variety of indecent exposure law to the books; “indecent exposure through a webcam.”Under the current language of House File 762 (hf762), a person “commits indecent exposure through a webcam in the first degree if the person exposes the person’s genitals or pubes through a webcam to a minor or a person believed to be a minor, or commits a sex act intended to be viewed through a webcam by a minor or a person believed to be a minor, and the act is intended to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of either party.”
Under the statutory definition for the purposes of this section of Iowa law, a “minor” is defined as a “person under fourteen years of age.”
The proposed bill also creates a second degree level of “indecent exposure through a webcam” violation which covers indecent exposure to another adult.
Under hf762, a person commits indecent exposure through a webcam in the second degree “if the person exposes the person’s genitals or pubes through a webcam to another person, or commits a sex act intended to be viewed through a webcam by another person, and the act is intended to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of either party, and the person knows or reasonably should know that the act is offensive to the viewer.”
As the term is defined in hf762, a “webcam” is a “real=time (sic) camera that can transmit images through the internet.”
According to Steve Bogle, commissioner of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the new law is needed because sexual predators frequently send minors sexually explicit images in an attempt to lure minors into more intimate communication.
“What they’re doing is showing sexual pictures of themselves in order to lower children’s inhibitions so they will meet with them in person,” said Bogle, according to the Des Moines Register.
Bogle noted that if an adult asks a child to meet them in person for sex, then that adult can be charged with enticement under Iowa law, but there currently is no Iowa law under which that adult could be charged with indecent exposure.
Under hf762, any person who commits indecent exposure through a webcam “commits a serious misdemeanor.” According to the text of the bill, a serious misdemeanor is “punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $315 but not more than $1,875.”
