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Accused Child Sex Offender Donnie Fetters After Arrest In NY Still Free in Iowa 10 Months Later

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon, Video

SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 7 – 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 2020 - ten months later - Fetters is still free and getting his case adjourned without transparency: "ORDER as to Donnie Fetters: Counsel for the defendant, with consent of the Government (see attached letter), requests that the conference currently scheduled for March 6, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. be adjourned. The conference shall be scheduled for May 15, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. It is hereby ordered that the time until May 15, 2020 shall be excluded from speedy trial calculations. This exclusion is designed to guarantee effectiveness of counsel and prevent any possible miscarriage of justice. The value of this exclusion outweighs the best interests of the defendant and the public to a speedy trial. This order of exclusion of time is made pursuant to 18 U.S.C. งง 3161(h)(7)(B)(i) & (iv). Time excluded from 3/5/2020 until 5/15/2020. (Pretrial Conference set for 5/15/2020 at 02:00 PM before Judge Victor Marrero) (Signed by Judge Victor Marrero on 3/5/2020)."  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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