An Afton man, found guilty of sexually abusing three children, will serve up to 30 years in prison.
Union County District Court documents show Aaron C. Custer, 51, of Afton, was found guilty by jury trial of four counts of third degree sexual abuse for incidents occurring to three victims, all between the ages of 12 to 15 years old.
On Nov. 23, 2023, the Afton Police department charged Custer with four counts of sexual abuse, third degree and one count of sexual abuse, second degree. A warrant was issued and Custer was subsequently arrested and held on $65,000 cash or surety bond. In December 2023, Custer posted bond after the court allowed him to post 10%.
Union County Attorney Shane O’Toole amended the charges against Custer Oct. 4, removing the second degree abuse charge. Of the four remaining charges, two were in reference to a single victim and each remaining count for two other victims.
Union County District Court documents state Custer performed sex acts by force or against the will of victim one between November 2014 and 2020, beginning when the victim was 14 or 15 years old. The second victim was the same age when they were assaulted by Custer between 2016 and 2018. A third victim, assaulted between 2019 and 2020, was 12 to 13 years old at the time.
A jury found Custer guilty Oct. 9, on all four counts after a three-day jury trial. On Nov. 12, Custer’s legal counsel filed a motion in arrest of judgement and for a new trial, stating no judgement should be entered against Custer due to the guilty verdict being contrary to the weight of the evidence. The motion claimed the case to be a “he said, she said” case from the defense’s perspective without any physical evidence and a limited investigation by law enforcement. Custer said the court and jury heard inconsistent testimony from the victims throughout the trial, including statements and recounts of events given by the victims to others. Custer also claimed evidence from two witnesses presented to the jury should not have been heard.
In a Nov. 21 response to the motion by the State, the State said Custer did not have a proper basis for the motion and the motion should be denied. The State cited Custer’s failure to identify any specific inconsistencies referenced in his motion and said the evidence presented was not limited to victim testimony. The State rested on the record, saying credible evidence in support of the State and which weighed heavily in favor of the verdict was returned by the jury.
The following day, judgement and sentencing on the four counts was entered against Custer, sentencing him to serve no more than 10 years on each count. Counts one and two were ran concurrent (at the same time) to each other and consecutively to counts three and four, for a total of 30 years. Custer was given credit for 67 days of time served.
Custer was ordered to complete a sex offender treatment program. If he fails the program, he may be required to serve 100% of his sentence, otherwise, the sentence may be reduced by up to half of the maximum with good conduct time and other credits.
Upon release from prison, Custer is required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life. All no contact orders previously in place with Custer’s victims will remain in effect for a five-year period. Custer is also ordered to pay all costs of counseling required by the victims.
Custer is subject to a life-long special sentence supervision by the Iowa Department of Corrections due to the nature of the crimes and will be electronically monitored and supervised as if he were on parole and never discharged.
If he is found guilty of any future sexually predatory offenses, the charge will be enhanced.
Custer has 30 days from the date of the final judgement to apply for permission to appeal by alleging good cause, defect in the guilty plea proceeding or an improper denial of motion in arrest of judgement. He may also appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court by filing an appeal with the clerk of court within 30 days. If nothing is filed in the required time frame, Custer will lose his right to appeal forever.