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Iowa’s state librarian has been arrested on a change of disseminating obscene material to a person he believed was a 14-year-old boy.
Clive police announced Friday that as part of an ongoing investigation, they arrested 53-year-old Michael Lynn Scott of Clive, the state librarian, on a misdemeanor charge of dissemination of obscene material to a minor.
The charge is punishable by up to one year in jail, a $2,500 fine, and registration on the state’s Sex Offender Registry for 10 years. Scott has yet to enter a plea in the case.
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According to police records, Scott used an anonymous messaging app called KiK to communicate with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old male named Ricky. Scott allegedly sent the individual messages stating that he was on KiK “out of curiosity” and that he liked “being dirty.”
Scott allegedly sent multiple images of his face before sending a video of himself masturbating underneath his shorts. Police allege he then sent a picture of his exposed penis with the camera tilted at an upward angle and his face visible in the image.
The individual Scott was messaging was actually a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. Because of jurisdictional issues, the sheriff’s office then shared its information with Clive police for additional investigation.
“In this day and age, with technology being so ingrained in everyday life, you never really know who is on the other end of an app like this,” Clive Police Chief Mark Rehberg said in a written statement. “In this case, it was an undercover deputy, but in many instances, the victims are young children, and these contacts can lead to more serious offenses.”
It’s not clear whether Scott remains the state librarian. His photo and name were recently deleted from the State Library’s website, but in a financial document Scott provided the court on Thursday, he indicated he was currently employed by the State of Iowa and earned $140,000 per year.
The office of the State Library offers a range of services and programs to libraries and citizens throughout Iowa. The agency is governed by a nine-member Commission of Libraries with the authority to receive and approve the State Library budget and to appoint the state librarian.
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