Human Trafficking Victim Ordered to Pay Rapist’s Estate $150K, Fundraiser Raises More Than $400K

The human trafficking victim was only 15 years old when she and her adopted mother escaped an abusive household and ended up homeless, sleeping in the hallways of an apartment in Des Moines. A 28-year-old man took her in, who then forced her into sex trafficking. Lewis later killed her alleged rapist in 2020.

Pieper Lewis was a vulnerable, homeless teenage girl living in the hallways of “one of the most dangerous apartment complexes” in Des Moines, Iowa, according to a source close to her. Lewis was forced into sex trafficking through threat of violence when she was only 15 years old. For weeks, Zachary Brooks, 37, repeatedly raped the 15-year-old after he drugged her. Lewis stabbed Brooks more than 30 times in a Des Moines apartment as a result.

The teen was sentenced to five years of closely supervised probation and was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to her alleged rapist’s family. A 20-year prison sentence is still possible for the victim if she violates any portion of her probation. That restitution is something the Polk County District judge David M. Porter could not toss out. It is mandatory under Iowa law and is upheld by the Iowa Supreme Court.

But Lewis—who earned her GED while being held in juvenile detention—may not have to pay that restitution. A GoFundMe was created by Lewis’ former teacher, Leland Schipper. As of September 15, at around 7:00 p.m., the fundraising website had raised $407,265 for Lewis.

“Today, the judge recognized that Pieper was a victim and a child. He, like almost everyone who knows the details of Pieper’s case, empathized with a girl with no violent history before or after this incident, who saw killing a man as the only way out of a truly horrific situation,” wrote Schipper on the website.

“However, in Iowa, there is a law that states that anyone who is convicted of killing a person, regardless of circumstances, must pay that individual’s family 150,000 dollars. This law is intended to provide justice to families who lost their loved ones. However, in the case of Pieper, it will require her to pay 150,000 dollars to the family of a man who purchased Pieper’s fifteen-year-old body from a sex trafficker, gave her drugs and alcohol, and then raped her repeatedly,” Schipper noted.

“Pieper does not owe that man’s family justice. Pieper does not deserve to be financially burdened for the rest of her life because the state of Iowa wrote a law that fails to give judges any discretion as to how it is applied. This law doesn’t make sense in many cases, but in this case, it’s morally unjustifiable. A child who was raped, under no circumstances, should owe the rapist’s family money,” Schipper argued in the GoFundMe description.

While prosecutors and police do not dispute that Lewis was raped and trafficked, they argue that her alleged rapist, Brooks, was asleep when Lewis stabbed him and did not pose an “immediate” danger. They also proclaimed that Lewis failed to take responsibility for stabbing her alleged rapist and “leaving his kids without a father.” Lewis pleaded guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury; both charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The fundraiser for Lewis managed to raise more than double what she owed in restitution in less than 48 hours. Over 10,900 people donated to the fundraiser, doubling Schipper’s goal of $200,000. Schipper says the money will help Lewis if she decides to attend college or start her own business.