A Davenport man was arrested Thursday for allegedly sexually abusing a child in 2018. He was previously on the sex offender registry.
Michael John Cross was convicted in 2008 of lascivious acts with a child, and who successfully petitioned the court to be taken off the sex offender registry and his lifetime parole in 2017,
Cross, formerly known as Michael John Byars, 34, is charged with one count of second-degree sexual abuse. Due to Cross’ conviction in 2008, the charge is a Class A felony that carries a sentence of life in prison.
According to the arrest affidavit filed by Davenport Police Detective Sean Johnson, police received a report of sexual abuse on May 4.
The affidavit said that beginning at least in June of 2018, Cross sexually abused a child by pulling down the child’s pants and underwear and touching the child’s genitals. The abuse began when the child was 3 to 4 years old and occurred on multiple occasions.
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Cross was being held Thursday night without bond in the Scott County Jail. He is expected to make a first appearance on the charge Friday in Scott County District Court where a judge will schedule a preliminary hearing and set bond.
According to Scott County District Court electronic records, on Aug. 10, 2007, Cross, then known as Byars, was arrested on a charge of third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years. In a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to a charge of lascivious acts with a child, also a Class C felony. Cross, who was born in 1989, was 18 at the time the abuse occurred in 2007.
On Jan. 10, 2008, District Judge J. Hobart Darbyshire sentenced Cross to 10 years in the Iowa Department of Corrections. On Nov. 3, 2009, Darbyshire granted Cross a reconsideration of sentence and placed Cross on supervised probation for two years.
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Cross was arrested in 2013 for failing to register his job as a volunteer lobbyist in Des Moines. According to a story published April 2, 2013, in the Quad-City Times, Cross had spent months trying to lobby on behalf of legislation aimed at lifting lifetime parole status for some teenagers, himself included, who were convicted of sex crimes.
Cross pleaded guilty to a charge of sex offender registration violation-first offense and was sentenced to one year on unsupervised release.
In 2015, when he was still known as Byars, he was arrested on two counts of sex offender registration violation-providing false information-second offense. The charge is a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years. He pleaded guilty to one of the counts and on July 16, 2015, District Judge Joel Barrows sentenced Cross to two years on supervised probation. He was discharged from probation on Sept. 1, 2017.
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On July 21, 2017, Cross filed an application in Scott County District Court to modify the sex offender registry requirements seeking to get off of the registry and off of lifetime parole. On Oct. 5, 2017, District Judge Mark Lawson approved the application.
Scott Count Sheriff Tim Lane said Thursday night the law that allows sex offenders to be removed from the registry allows for the Department of Correctional Services to do the assessment on the offender. The sex offender then takes that assessment to the courts to support their claim that they need to be removed from the registry.
Lane
“It’s the poorest law on the books in Iowa for protecting victims and is contrary to the purpose of the sex offender registry law,” Lane said.
“So last year the Iowa legislature looked at this law and I did my best to lobby the Iowa House and Senate to take the assessment out of the hands of the Department of Correctional Services,” Lane added.
Lane said a private psychiatrist should do the assessments and the Department of Correctional Services should provide expert testimony on behalf of the County Attorney’s Office “who would clearly want to find cases where obvious predators are being assessed as low risk to the public when clearly they are not.”
It was just a matter of time before a convicted Scott County sex offender reoffended, he said.
“They’re getting these people off the registry and then these people are turning around and making new victims,” Lane said. “The public should not stand for that.”
Photos: Apartment fire in Davenport injures one
Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex on the 1800 block of 40th Street, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
A Davenport firefighter carries a cat out of an apartment as crews work the scene of a structure fire at anapartment complex on the 1800 block of 40th Street, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
Residents embrace as Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex in the 1800 block of 40th Street on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex on the 1800 block of 40th Street, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex in the 1800 block of 40th Street on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex in the 1800 block of 40th Street on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
A MidAmerican Energy worker leans over a meter as Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex on the 1800 block of 40th Street, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex on the 1800 block of 40th Street, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex on the 1800 block of 40th Street, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex on the 1800 block of 40th Street, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
Davenport firefighters work the scene of a structure fire at an apartment complex in the 1800 block of 40th Street on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Davenport. One injury was reported by fire officials.
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