Polk County Prosecutor's Office: Man sentenced to 55 years in prison

DES MOINES, Iowa – Polk County prosecutors announced Friday that a man who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and racketeering was sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Matthew Akeem Butts, 36, of Des Moines, pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse and extortion charges in the Alford trial.

Prosecutors said Butts sexually abused minors in Polk and Story County on multiple occasions, whom he met through Snapchat.

An Alford Plea acknowledges the likelihood of a conviction at trial without a formal admission of guilt.

Butts was sentenced to 45 years in prison in Story County earlier this month for two counts of third-degree sexual abuse and trafficking drugs to a minor. Polk County added a 10-year prison term to the charges, which will be served retroactively to the sentence in Story County.

Butts will also be on probation for the rest of his life and will be placed on the sex offender registry, the Polk County District Attorney's Office added.

Butts was accused of blackmailing a 14-year-old girl into further meetings and threatening to publish pictures and videos if she did not cooperate.

“You made my daughter feel unsafe. You made my daughter afraid. You took advantage of my daughter when she was at a vulnerable age. And for a short time, you took my daughter away from me,” the victim's mother said.