| Accused Child Sex Offender
Donnie Fetters After Arrest In NY Still Free
in Iowa 22 Months Later
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon,
Video
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 29 – A man who flew from
Iowa to New York City after
negotiating to have sex with a
seven year old girl and a nine
year old boy was on May 10,
2019 allowed to go free on
bond by U.S.
District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York
Magistrate
Judge Ona T.
Wang. The
proceeding
went until 8
pm with Inner
City Press the
only media in
attendance.
Now in March
2021 - twenty
two months
later -
Fetters is
still free and
getting his
case adjourned
without much
transparency:
"ORDER as to
Donnie
Fetters. The
conference
shall be
scheduled for
Friday June 4,
2021 at 11:30
a.m. All
parties to
this action
consent to an
exclusion of
time from the
Speedy Trial
Act until June
4, 2021 (
Pretrial
Conference set
for 6/4/2021
at 11:30 AM
before Judge
Victor
Marrero.)"
We'll have
more on this.
The defendant,
described by
Judge Wang's
Deputy as
"Donnie
Fetters,
19-MAG-4559,"
sat for an
hour shackled
in a Carhartt
shirt. His
Federal
Defenders
lawyer Julia
Gatto
emphasized
that he is a
crane operator
and farmer of
hogs. After a
long break
Judge Wang
said he can
return to the
farm, with his
travel paid
for by the
taxpayers, as
long as he
uses a flip
phone and
stays away
from
Starbucks. It
turns out,
however, that
the GPS
monitor she
ordered may
not be
available in
the Southern
District of
Iowa.
Troublingly,
there appeared
to be an
attempt to
keep parts of
the proceeding
non-public, to
avoid coverage
by the Press.
With Inner
City Press the
only media in
the SDNY
Magistrates
Court, Judge
Wang sought to
have the Pre
Trial Services
oral report
outside of the
courtroom. But
the defendant
had a right to
be present. So
it was held,
in whispers,
at the
defendant's
table. Inner
City Press
heard much of
it but is not
reporting at
this time.
Publicly it
was said that
the defendant
told an
undercover
agent that he
has already
had sex with
an eight year
old girl, who
contacted him
recently, now
thirteen years
old. He lives
alone, making
any monitoring
of him by
"unannounced"
PTS visits
dubious at
best. Then it
emerged that
there may not
even be GPS
capability in
the Southern
District of
Iowa.
Now on May 31
we can report:
not only was
Donnie Fetters
freed and
flown at
taxpayer
expense back
to the
Southern
District of
Iowa - now he
is permitted
to travel to
the Northern
District of
Iowa as well.
He has been
indicted, and
the case now
assigned to
SDNY District
Judge Victor
Marrero. We'll
have more on
this - for now
there's more here on Patreon. And
see @SDNYLIVE.
The case is US
v.
Fetters,19-cr-387
(Marrero).
***
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